The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, has reserved its verdict on the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) following an extensive eight-day debate. The seven-judge bench, including justices Sanjiv Khanna, Surya Kant, J B Pardiwala, Dipankar Datta, Manoj Misra, and Satish Chandra Sharma, considered arguments from opposing sides.
The AMU’s minority status has been entangled in legal intricacy for several decades, with references made to a seven-judge bench in 2019 and a similar instance in 1981. The 1967 S Azeez Basha versus Union of India case, adjudicated by a five-judge constitution bench, concluded that AMU, being a central university, couldn’t be categorized as a minority institution. However, the university regained its minority status in 1981 through the passage of the AMU (Amendment) Act.
In January 2006, the Allahabad High Court nullified a provision of the 1981 law that conferred minority status on the university. This led to appeals from both the Congress-led UPA government and the university itself. In 2016, the BJP-led NDA government expressed its intention to withdraw the UPA government’s appeal, asserting AMU’s non-minority status based on government funding, as highlighted in the 1967 Basha case.
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