POINTS INVOLVED IN THE CASE

This post is about the points involved in the AMU reservation case. 

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।।

The following were the points involved in the case:

(1) Whether an institution has to be established as well as administered by a minority to get benefit under Article 30 of the Constitution. Are both conditions—namely establishing and administering—are mandatory. Is 1968 (1) SCR 833 = AIR 198 SC 662 S Azeez Basha Vs Union of India (the Basha case) rightly decided;

(2) Whether the Aligarh Muslim University (the AMU) was established by Muslims.

(3) Whether the AMU is being administered by a minority;

(4) Whether the Parliament can reverse the Basha case, without changing its basis; 

(5) What is meaning of minority mentioned in Article 30 Does it mean numerical minority or electoral minority: namely, a section of society that cannot affect elections. As Muslims form a sizeable section of our society, they are not a minority as envisaged by Article 30.

(6) The AMU was established by the Aligarh Muslim University Act, 1920 (the Principal Act). It has been amended from time to time and was further amended in 1981 (the 1981 Amendment). By this amendment, four major changes that are claimed to have changed the basis of the Basha case were made. These are– 

(a) the words ‘establish and’ in the preamble was deleted; and 

the following three (b) to (d) were inserted;

(b) section 2(l)  that broadly provided the University to mean the educational institution of their choice established by Muslims;  

(c) section 5(2)(c) providing promotion of education and culture among Muslims; 

(d) section 5(7) providing determining condition of their (Muslim) service in accordance with the statutes.

(7) Assuming though not admitting that by the aforesaid amendments the basis of the Basha case was changed—thus rendering it (the Basha case) as no longer good law—then these amendments are illegal on the following grounds that:

(a) They are arbitrary and, unreasonable and illegal;

(b) They go against secularism and equality, basic features of the Constitution, and are hit by the preamble, Article 14, 15 and 29(2) of the Constitution.

(8) The Basha case was decided more than 55 years ago. Should such a long standing decision be overruled?

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