• An educational institution established by a minority community will not lose its identity once it is recognised through a statute, the Supreme Court declared on Friday in a 4:3 majority judgment by a seven-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud.
• The majority judgment authored by the Chief Justice was based on petitions seeking minority status for the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Chief Justice Chandrachud held that an institution established by a minority community was indeed a minority educational institution. But the onus was on the community to prove they had established the institution to preserve and retain their cultural fabric, he said.
• The court returned the case to the regular Bench to examine the question of AMU’s minority status, based on Friday’s verdict.
• The petitioners had challenged the judgment in the 1967 case of S. Azeez Basha versus Union of India, which had held that AMU was a Central university and cannot be considered a minority institution. The seven-judge Bench overruled the 1967 verdict that had held that religious minorities did not have the right to administer educational institutions not established by them, and cannot claim protection under Article 30(1). Article 30(1) upholds the right of religious and linguistic minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.
• The minority status of the AMU, established in 1875, was then restored by Parliament through the AMU (Amendment) Act in 1981. In January 2006, however, the Allahabad High Court struck down the provision of the 1981 law by which the university was accorded minority status. The issue was referred to a seven-judge SC Bench in 2019.
• “Article 30 extends to secular education as well,” the Chief Justice wrote. He classified Article 30(1) as both an anti-discriminatory as well as a ‘special rights’ provision in favour of religious and linguistic minorities.

“A legislation or an executive action which discriminates against religious or linguistic minorities in establishing or administering educational institutions is ultra vires Article 30(1). This is the anti-discrimination reading of the provision. A linguistic or religious minority which has established an educational institution receives the guarantee of greater autonomy. This is the ‘special rights’ reading of the provision,” the CJI wrote.