AMN /
ALIGARH : The Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, Lt. Gen. Zameer Udin Shah today presided over a joint meeting of members of AMU Court, Executive Council, Academic Council and office bearers of various teaching and non-teaching bodies. The meeting was held to take the stock of situation following the hearing of AMU minority status case in the Supreme Court of India.
Shedding light on the developments pertaining to the minority status case, the Vice Chancellor reiterated that it was the first priority of the University and the AMU is making meaningful efforts to this effect.
Expressing unstinted faith in country’s judiciary, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Brig. S. Ahmad Ali said that AMU has already made adequate preparation regarding this case and we will put up our stand with full confidence in the next hearing of the case in the Supreme Court, which is slated for April 4.
All the members present in the meeting expressed full solidarity with the University administration and made appropriate suggestions regarding the minority status case. It was decided that cooperation of all sections will be sought in this matter.
Central Government on Monday told Supreme Court that Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) could not be categorized as a ‘minority’ institution.
Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi told a bench of Justices J S Khehar, M Y Eqbal and C Nagappan, “It is the stand of the Union of India that AMU is not a minority university. As the executive government at the Centre, we can’t be seen as setting up a minority institution in a secular state.”
AMU Act was enacted in 1920 dissolving and incorporating Mohammadan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College. Parliament passed the AMU (Amendment) Act in 1951 and it did away with compulsory instruction in Muslim theology. The amendment opened membership of the Court of AMU to non-Muslims.
Radical changes were introduced by the 1966 amendment to AMU Act, which was challenged before the Supreme Court by S Azeez Basha. The SC dismissed the petition in 1967 holding that AMU was not a minority institution because it had been established by an Act of Parliament and had not been set up by Muslims.
Another amendment to AMU Act in 1972 made the academic and executive councils more democratic and drastically reduced the nominees of the Visitor. In a further amendment in 1981, Parliament allowed AMU to “promote, especially the educational and cultural advancement of Muslims in India”, permitting the institution to get back its minority