State Minority Commission Cannot Call For Records From Minority Institutions To Verify Adoption Of Reservation Policy: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has held that the State Minority Commission does not have any locus standi to call for records from a minority educational institution to verify its adoption of the reservation rule. Justice L Victoria Gowri observed that minority educational institutions were exempt from the purview of Article 15(5) which gave power to the State to make special provisions of law for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes relating to admission to educational institutions, including private institutions. “The State Minority Commission, which is empowered to function to safeguard the rights and privileges of the minority institutions do not have any locus standi to call for the records from the minority educational institutions to verify the adoption of Rule for Reservation of seats in Minority Educational Institutions, which is clearly excluded under Article 15(5) of the Constitution of India, in violation to the functions enumerated under Section 8 of the Tamil Nadu State Minorities Commission Act, 2010,” the court observed. The court was hearing four petitions filed by different minority institutions challenging the proceedings issued by the Member Secretary of the State Minority Commissioner calling upon the colleges to depute officials along with an authorisation letter from the Principal and details of the admission in the past 3 academic years. In the proceedings, it was informed that the Commission wanted to verify whether the guidelines pertaining to the minority institution were followed promptly as per the Government Order of the Higher Education Department and the Personal and Administrative Reforms Department. The colleges submitted that the Commission did not have any authority to fix any criteria in the matter of admission in minority institutions. It was further argued that the Tamil Nadu Private Colleges (Regulation) Act did not give powers to the Commission to prescribe any percentage of admission to the private minority educational institution. It was contended that the commission was attempting to abrogate the rights granted to the minority institutions under Article 30 of the Constitution. The court agreed with the colleges and noted that as per Section 8(2) of the Tamil Nadu State Minorities Commission Act, the commission could make recommendations to the Government to be laid before the legislative assembly along with the action proposed to be taken on the recommendations. The court observed that the power granted to the Commission under the Act was to function in a way to safeguard the communal harmony in the State by monitoring the working of the safeguards provided under the Act. The court further remarked that the commission was expected to work towards avoiding the discrimination against minorities. However, in the present case, the court opined that the Commission sought to verify something without having any locus for the same. The court thus observed that the commission had violated the functions enumerated under the Tamil Nadu State Minorities Commission Act, 2010. Thus, observing the proceedings initiated by the Commission would not stand the scrutiny of law, the court set aside the same. Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. Issac Mohanlal, Senior Counsel For M/s. Isaac Chambers Counsel for the Respondent: Mr. Ohm Prakash Government Advocate Case Title: The Secretary and Others v. The State of Tamil Nadu Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Mad) 103 Case No: W.P.(MD)Nos.22143, 22144, 22365 and 22366 of 2018Click Here To Read/Download The Judgment

State Minority Commission Cannot Call For Records From Minority Institutions To Verify Adoption Of Reservation Policy: Madras High Court

Upasana Sajeev

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