AMU gave up minority status in 1920, cannot claim it now: Centre tells Supreme Court

Supreme Court is currently hearing a plea on AMU minority status

Arguing for the central government, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta on January 23 told the Supreme Court that the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) gave up its minority status with the passage of the 1920 act of parliament and hence it cannot claim it now.

SG took the court through the provisions of the unamended 1920 AMU act to argue that the university had a national and a non-minority character from the very beginning. According to Mehta, during the pre-independence times there were many institutions that did not align with the British crown or grant British degrees, however many of them aligned with the crown, AMU was one among the institutions that did.  He further argued that the founders of AMU were loyal to the British.

The seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court however noted that merely because the founders were loyal to the British, an institution cannot lose its minority character. “Founded by a minority does not mean you have to be in opposition to the government,” the court remarked.

According to the government, when a parliamentary legislation is passed to establish a university it becomes one that has a national character and since AMU was established by an act of the parliament, it is not a minority institution.

A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud is currently hearing a plea on whether AMU is a minority institution or not. While AMU claims that it is a minority institution, the government has claimed otherwise.

AMU’s minority status

AMU was established in 1875 as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. In 1920, the British government in India passed the AMU Act, a central legislation which enabled MAO and a few other colleges to be affiliated with it.

The central government passed two amendments to the law in 1951 and 1965. The amendment changed the structure of the governing body of the university and gave powers to the president of India to nominate its members. These amendments were challenged in the Supreme Court by an individual named Azeez Basha.

In 1967, a five-judge bench of the apex court upheld the amendment and ruled that the AMU was not a minority institution as there was a central legislation governing the same. In 1981, the government brought in a law that restored the minority status of the university, thereby permitting it to make reservations for the Muslim community in India.

However, in 2005, the minority status of the institution was challenged in the Allahabad High Court, after it reserved 50 percent of post-graduate seats to Muslim minorities. The Allahabad HC ruled against its minority status and the case ultimately reached the SC. In 2019, the issue was referred to a seven-judge bench, noting that a five-judge bench had already ruled on it in 1967.

According to the government, AMU is given a special status by including the same in the Constitution of India, wherein it was deemed to be an “institution of national importance”. The Constitution did not treat it either as a minority institution or otherwise, the government claimed.