AMU Case - First Point

This post explains that in order to take advantage of Article 30 institution should be Established & Administrated.

ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY AND MUSLIM RESERVATION

Introduction।। Points Involved in the Case।। Institution Should Be Established and Administered।। AMU Established by the Principal Act।। AMU Not Administered by Minority।। Legislature Can Not Reverse Decision।। Article 30 - Electoral And Not Numerical Minority।। 1981 Amendments Are Arbitrary।। 1981 Amendment is Against Secularism।। Long Standing Decision May Not be Overruled।। Bourbaki & Zero।।

In the Basha case, the scope of Article 30 was explained in paragraph 19 of the judgement reported in the AIR. It was held that the twin conditions of establishing and administering have to be satisfied and there is no reason to reject the reasoning of the same. Even otherwise, as explained in:

Justice GP Singh - Principles of Statutory Interpretation 14th Ed. Pg-55

“When the words of a Statute are clear, plain, or unambiguous i.e., they are reasonably susceptible to only one meaning, the courts are bound to give effect to that meaning to that meaning irrespective of consequences.” 

Halsbury’s Laws of England Vol-96 on Pg-46, 

“It is rule of the common law, which may be called plain meaning rule, that where, in relation to facts of the instant case, the enactment under inquiry is grammatically capable of one meaning only and, on informed interpretation of that enactment, the interpretation criteria raises no real doubt as to whether that meaning is the one intended by the legislator, then the legal meaning of the enactment is taken to correspond to that grammatical meaning ; but in any other case basic rule of interpretation [para-701 on Pg-457] is to be applied.” 

American Jurisprudence Second Edition 2012 Vol-73 para-104 Pg-341

“As a rule, where language of the statute is clear and unambiguous, its clear meaning may not be evaded by an administrative body or a court under guise of construction. In such circumstances, there is no room for judicial interpretation, and the language should generally be given effect without resort to extrinsic guides to construction. In this regard, it has been said that the starting point in statutory interpretation is the language of the statute itself.” 

Maxwell on The Interpretation of Statutes (Twelfth Edition Twenty Second Impression Chapter–2 ‘General Principles of Interpretation Pg–28), 

“The first and most elementary rule of construction  is … and the second is phrases and the sentences are to be construed according to grammar”

Benion On Statutory Interpretation (Sixth Edition) (Section-195 Pg-507)

“It is rule of law (in this called the plain meaning rule) that where, in relation to the facts of the instant case:

(a) the enactment under enquiry is grammatically capable of one meaning only, and

(b) on an informed interpretation of that enactment the interpretation raises no real doubt as to whether that grammatical meaning is the one intended by the legislator,

the legal meaning of the enactment corresponds to that grammatical meaning and is to be applied accordingly."

Applying the aforesaid principle, the words ‘establish and administer’ in Article 30 is to be read conjunctively and if so read, both conditions are to be satisfied.

#AMU #AligarhMuslimUniversity #MuslimReservation #PlainWords #NaturalMeaning