The
Supreme Court on Friday overruled its 1967 judgement about the Aligarh
Muslim University (AMU) that became the basis for denying the minority
status to the institute. In a 4-3 split decision, a bench led by Chief Justice
D Y Chandrachud overruled judgement in the 1967 Azeez Basha case and also said
that a new bench will decide on the minority status of the AMU.
The
court directed that the AMU’s minority status be decided again based on the
principles in this verdict. “The view in Azeez Basha that minority character
stops when statute comes into force is overruled. Whether the AMU is minority
or not will be decided as per this judgement,” said Chandrachud.
What is the Azeez
Basha case?
In the Azeez Basha versus Union
of India case, a five-judge constitution bench had ruled that AMU being a
central university cannot be considered a minority institution. However, Parliament
restored the university’s minority status in 1981 by passing the AMU
(Amendment) Act.
Allahabad High
Court's 2006 judgement on AMU
The issue further escalated in
2006, when the Allahabad High Court struck down the provision of the AMU
(Amendment) Act, 1981. In response, the previous Congress-led United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had appealed against the 2006 order. The
AMU has also filed a petition over the issue.
However,
when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance assumed power,
it told the Supreme Court in 2016 that it was withdrawing the appeal filed by
the past government.
In
2019, the top court referred the matter to a seven-judge bench.
In
January this year, the court had expressed surprise over Centre’s refusal to
acknowledge the 1981 Parliament amendment. Noting that the Parliament is an
"eternal, indestructible body" under the Indian Union, CJI
Chandrachud has said that the Centre has to stand by what Parliament has done.