NEW DELHI, 14 October 2005 — Efforts by students, teachers and others associated with Aligarh Muslim University against the Allahabad High Court’s decision to strip the university of its minority status have paid off partly with the federal government deciding to challenge the verdict.
Earlier this month, at the Allahabad High Court, Justice Arun Tandon quashed the Aligarh Muslim University Amendment Act 1981 as unconstitutional and said that the notification given by Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry this year on Feb. 25 — permitting AMU to reserve quota for Muslims in post-graduate medical courses — was illegal. Tandon also observed that AMU was established under an act passed by the Parliament and it was not an institution established by a minority community.
As per HRD Minister Arjun Singh’s direction, Tandon’s decision would now be challenged, “may be by the end of this month,” a senior official said. “We have received a copy of the high court order. We are studying it. We will be going either to the division bench of the High Court or the Supreme Court so that the minority status of the institution is maintained,” the official said.
The government is interested in maintaining AMU’s minority status, as enshrined in the AMU Amendment Act 1981. It was to underline AMU’s minority status that the Indira Gandhi government introduced the amendment act. As per the AMU Amendment Act of 1981, the university is defined as “the educational institution of their choice established by the Muslims of India.”
A clause was put in allowing the university “to promote especially the educational and cultural advancement of Muslims of India.”
With Section 8 reformulated, it read: “The university shall be open to all persons (including the teachers and the taught) of either sex and of whatever race, religion, creed or class.”
Allahabad High Court gave its verdict on Oct. 4 on a writ petition filed by Malay Shukla who challenged the AMU Amendment Act 1981 and the Feb. 25 quota notification.
Legally, prospects of AMU’s minority status being preserved, according to analysts, are fairly strong. Historically, AMU’s minority status remains unquestionable as the forerunner of AMU, the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College was established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in 1875 for educational advancement of Indian Muslims. Besides, there is an opinion, that Allahabad verdict quashed the Feb. 25 notification and not the decision taken by center in May. The February 25 notification led to the central government give the nod in May approving 50 per cent reservation for Muslims in AMU in 36 courses.
The central government took this decision to ensure preservation of AMU’s minority status.
There is also an opinion that the high court does not have the authority to quash a parliamentary act in the manner that Allahabad High Court has quashed the AMU Amendment Act. Rather, the court is expected to send a parliamentary act to concerned authorities for reconsideration.
Meanwhile, in Aligarh, the teaching and the non-teaching staff observed a one-day token strike yesterday in protest against the high court decision depriving the university of its minority status. A spokesman for protesters said: “We have come to a single platform putting aside the differences as we feel that the very ethos of this institution is now at stake.”
