SP Leader Moves A Private Member Bill To Restore Minority Status Of Aligarh Muslim University
To restore the minority character of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Senior Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha member Ramjilal Suman proposed a Private Member Bill. The SP MP addressed a letter to the Rajya Sabha Secretary and said that he intends to introduce the AMU (Restoration of Minority Character) Bill 2024 in the next session of the upper house.
The matter has been pending in the judiciary for a long time. In February 2024, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court reserved its judgment. The matter has assumed meaning as the CJI’s tenure ends in November and Parliament is not in session.
According to a The Hindu report, the former Union Minister said that the bill would send the right message to society since the Modi government has opposed the minority character of the university.
The move came amid the emerging political scenario in the state where by-elections on nine seats are on the list. The veteran Dalit leader’s initiative is seen as a reply to the right-wing ecosystem that claimed to support Scheduled Castes. Notably, the move becomes more compelling from a political perspective considering that reservation did not apply in minority institutions.
In 2005, university reserved 50% seats for Muslim students in its postgraduate medical courses. The decision was challenged in the Allahabad High Court in Dr Naresh Agarwal vs Union of India, which struch down the reservation, AMU and the Union government appealed in Supreme Court in 2006. In 2014, the NDA govt withdrew it from the appeal in 2016, against the decision. AMU proceeded with the challenge.
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In 2019, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court referred the case for reconsideration by a seven-judge bench and a seven-judge bench was constituted by the CJI D Y Chandrachud.
In February 2024, the Supreme Court reserved judgment in the AMU Minority status case after eight days of hearing which was considering whether AMU qualified as minority institution under Article 30. In a 1967 Supreme Court judgment, Azeez Basha v Union of India, the Court stated that AMU does not have a minority status as the intitution was established by the British government via Aligarh Muslim University Act 1920.
The draft Bill sought to ensure that the AMU was established by Muslims of India, especially in view of the Supreme Court judgment in Azeez Basha Vs. Union (1968) 1 S.C.R with respect thereto.
