The petition regarding the minority status of Jamia Millia Islamia, a Central University in New Delhi, filed in the Supreme Court, has been withdrawn. The Delhi High Court had deferred the hearing of the plea due to a similar legal issue pending before a 7-judge bench of the Supreme Court in Aligarh Muslim University v. Naresh Agarwal and Ors. On Monday (09.10.2023), Sr. Adv. Jayant Mehta, appearing for the petitioner, sought permission from a bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice S V N Bhatti to withdraw the special leave petition, which was allowed. It should be mentioned that the Aligarh Muslim University case has been scheduled for hearing soon by a 7-judge Supreme Court panel. The issue in the AMU case is whether a University created by a statute can claim minority status. Jamia Millia Islamia was established by a law passed by the Parliament in 1988.
The Delhi High Court had observed in its August 2023 order that the question of law pending before the 7-judge bench of the Supreme Court has a bearing on the issue before the High Court. “What are the indicators for treating an educational institution as a minority educational institution? ” was a question that the court had recorded. Could the fact that a person or people from a certain religious or linguistic minority founded or are in charge of a particular educational institution make it a minority educational institution? for consideration before the Supreme Court.
In the plea before the Delhi High Court, the Center had changed its stand on the status of Jamia in 2018 and told the High Court that it is not a ‘minority institution’. This is contrary to the stand taken by the Center in 2011. The HRD Ministry, under the minister Kapil Sibal, had submitted an affidavit in the High Court in 2011 stating that the government respected the declaration made by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institution (NCMEI) that Jamia Millia Islamia is a religious minority institution. However, in a revised affidavit filed by the Center in 2018, it stated that the earlier stand of the Government of India is an incorrect understanding of the legal position and the same may be withdrawn. “Treating a Central University as a minority education institution is against the basic tenet of a central university and repugnant to law, undermining its status 2018 affidavit said. The Center had stated in 2018 that “by no stretch of the imagination could Article 30 (1) be understood to indicate that even if an educational institution has been formed by a Central Act, yet the minority has the authority to run it.
The NCMEI in 2011 had declared Jamia Millia Islamia as a religious minority institution in view of the fact that it was founded by Muslims for the benefit of it has always maintained its status as a Muslim minority educational institution for the community.. The commission had also said the institution was covered under “Article 30 (1), read with Section 2 (g) of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act” in Vijay Kumar Sharma V. National Commission For Minority Educational Institutions & Ors.
Written by N.Yogendra Mani of KL University Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh ( 5th semester) an intern under Legal Vidhiya
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