By Qurban Ali / New Delhi
Former Union Minister and senior Rajya Sabha member of Samajwadi Party Ramji Lal Suman has welcomed the decision given by the Supreme Court today to restore the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). He however said that this decision is still incomplete and hence he will make every effort to get get passed the private member bill that he had presented in the Rajya Sabha for restoration of minority status of AMU.
It is noteworthy that on Friday, 8 November, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud has rejected the Aziz Basha decision given by the Supreme Court itself in 1967 regarding the minority character of AMU, on the basis of which the Allahabad High Court had abolished the minority status of AMU in 2005.
The Allahabad High Court had said in one of its decisions in 2005 that since AMU has not been considered a minority institution in the Aziz Basha decision given by the Supreme Court in 1967, therefore AMU cannot be a minority institution.
Today the Supreme Court has rejected that decision of the Allahabad High Court. This has strengthened AMU’s claim for minority character, but the decision on this issue is yet to be given by a bench of three judges of the Supreme Court.
It is worth noting that Ramjilal Suman moved a private member bill in the Rajya Sabha last month. Shri Ramjilal Suman says that “In December 1981, the minority status of AMU was restored by the then Central Government through an amendment act by both the houses of Parliament. But the Allahabad High Court through its judgment in 2005 rejected the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Since the Modi government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court opposing the minority status of AMU, Shri Ramji Lal Suman has introduced this private bill in the Rajya Sabha.
Suman believes that “his bill seeks to ensure that since the Muslim community established Aligarh Muslim University through the then government by collecting an amount of Rs 30 lakh, this university has been established by the Muslims of India. It is also worth mentioning here that the restoration of minority status of AMU was promised in the Lok Sabha election manifesto of Janata Party in 1977 and 1979. At that time most of the former Jana Sangh and BJP leaders including Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani were members of the Janata Party and In the 1977 and 1979 Lok Sabha election manifestos of the Janata Party, he supported the restoration of the minority status of AMU which was abolished by the Indira Gandhi-led Congress Party in the 70s.”