NEW DELHI, 25 April 2006 — The Supreme Court status quo in the Aligarh Muslim University case yesterday, in terms of the 1981 constitutional amendment, till the case is disposed of. A bench comprising Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice D.K. Jain also asked a constitutional bench to decide whether the AMU can be deemed a minority institution.
The bench also asked AMU not to implement the decision to reserve 50 percent of seats for students belonging to the minority community till the case is decided. “Status quo be maintained as on date of filing of the writ petition before the High Court on the character of the university,” the court said and issued notices to students, who had challenged the grant of 50 percent reservation to the Muslim students.
Welcoming the order, AMU Vice-Chancellor Naseem Ahmed said yesterday in Aligarh: “By admitting our writ and referring it to a larger bench, the Supreme Court has given us a fair opportunity for establishing claims regarding the origins of this historic institution.”
The interim order “marks a major victory for us and has vindicated our stand on the need to review the 1968 Supreme Court verdict on the Aziz Basha case,” Ahmed said. The issue of granting 50 percent quotas of Muslims would now be held in abeyance until the final judgment by the apex court, Ahmed said.
Earlier this month, the AMU filed a special leave petition in the apex court challenging the Allahabad High Court’s Jan. 5 judgment, which had stripped AMU of its minority status. The central government had granted minority status to AMU in 1981.
