AMU Continued As Institution Of National Importance, Why Minority Status Important? Supreme Court Asks [Day 3]

During the hearing of the case concerning the minority status of the Aligarh Muslim University, the Supreme Court on Thursday (January 12) asked if the 'minority tag' was important for the University, since it has been existing as an institute of national importance for over a hundred years.“Over the last 100 years, without the minority institution tag, it(AMU) has continued to be an institution of national mportance. How does it matter that if we are not with you on Basha(Azeez Basha judgment)? How does it matter for the people whether it is a minority institution or not ? It's only the brand name AMU”, Justice Dipankar Datta, a member of the 7-judge bench asked.Advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for one of the petitioners supporting the minority claim of the AMU, submitted that till the 1967 Azeez Basha judgment, the University enjoyed minority status. Later, through the 1981 amendment to the AMU Act, minority status was given to the institution. Although the Allahabad High Court ordered in 20016 that AMU is not a minority institute, its minority status is continuing as per the status quo orders of the Court, he said."Today, because of the status quo orders on the 81 amendments, it continues to be a minority institution. In fact if your lordships uphold Basha, for the first time clearly now, it will cease to be a minority institution,” he replied.Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, another member of the bench, sought to know if there is any other minority institution which is 100% funded by the Central Government. Farasat said that he doesn't have clear data on it but expressed the belief that Jamia Milia Islamia is such an institution which is almost 100% centrally funded.The 7-judge Bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Surya Kant, JB Pardiwala, Dipankar Datta, Manoj Misra and SC Sharma is dealing with a challenge to a 2006 decision of the Allahabad High Court which held that though AMU was established by a minority community, it was never administered or claimed to be administered by the minority community and thus cannot be considered as a minority institution. AMU's minority status important for Muslim educationFarasat, representing petitioner Haji Muqeet Ali Qureshi, highlighted how AMU has a major role in developing an educated Muslim class in the country. He explained, “Students from Bengal, Karnataka Orissa etc of Muslim families will send their children only to AMU, especially women students. The burden of bearing the cultural markers of identity be it the majority or minority will always come on women.”He said that AMU helped in furthering the cause of Muslim girl child education and that too at the level of higher studies.However, Solicitor General (SG) Mr Tushar Mehta interjected this by saying, “They (Muslim Women) are studying everywhere, let's not belittle them”Farasat countered this by saying that this is a sociological aspect that he puts forth, that it's a fact that “Communities send their children generally and women specifically, because of the minority status, it is a fact”. He layered the argument on women empowerment by mentioning an illustrious list of women AMU Alumni which included distinguished historian Rana Safvi, Novelist Ismat Chugtai, notable NASA scientist Hashima Hasan and Educationist Najma Akhtar. He added that the first inaugural chancellor of AMU was a woman, namely Sultan Jahan Begum of Bhopal, which in itself was of historical importance as she was the first female chancellor of any Indian University.Muslim Composition in AMUFarasat emphasized the composition of the Court of AMU and contended that at no point in time for the previous 40 years, has the University had less than 80 per cent Muslims.It was further submitted that the composition of the Executive Council for the last 40 years is that 80-100 per cent of the Executive Council is contained within the minority group. Composition of a similar nature is also indicated in the Academic Council.The total student composition in the university is 23,675 out of which the Muslim students are 18,700 which amounts to 77.39 per cent. Out of the total female students 81 per cent consists of Muslim female students while out of the male students, 79% are Muslims.In his concluding remarks, Farast addressed the written submissions of the Solicitor General. He said that tenor to the SG's written submissions suggested that AMU can't be given minority status since it is an institution of national importance. “The fact that I am a successful minority institution cannot be the basis of making me move out of my minority zone. A minority institution can be an Institue of National Importance, it's not that only majority-established institutions can be of national importance. That is my final submission,” he said.On the issue of referenceDuring the first half of the day, the Supreme Court asked what would be the consequence if the Azeez Basha decision is held to be erroneous and how it will impact the Allahabad...

AMU Continued As Institution Of National Importance, Why Minority Status Important? Supreme Court Asks [Day 3]

Anmol Kaur Bawa

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