New Delhi, Nov 7 (IANS) A seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is set to deliver on Friday its judgment on the issue of minority status of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
As per the causelist published on the website of the apex court, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud-led Constitution Bench will pronounce its judgment on November 8.
In February this year, the 7-judge Constitution Bench, reserved its decision after finishing hearing the oral arguments advanced by Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the senior law officers representing the Centre and senior advocates Rajiv Dhawan, Kapil Sibal, and others, appearing for the appellants.
The Constitution Bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Surya Kant, J.B. Pardiwala, Dipankar Datta, Manoj Misra, and SC Sharma, was dealing with a reference arising out of the 2006 decision passed by the Allahabad High Court, striking down the 1981 amendment conferring minority status on the institution.
The Parliament, by virtue of the Aligarh Muslim University (Amendment) Act, 1981 conferred minority status on the institution after a five-judge Constitution Bench in the 1967 Azeez Basha case had laid down that AMU, being a Central university, cannot claim to be a minority institution.
In the course of the hearing, CJI Chandrachud had orally observed that an educational institution could not be deprived of minority status merely because it is being regulated by a statute made by the Centre or a state government.
“Today, in a regulated state, nothing is absolute. Merely because the right to administer is regulated by a statute, does not detract the minority character of the institution,” he had observed.
Further, the SC had expressed surprise over the Centre’s stand that it does not accept the 1981 amendment inserted by the Parliament to confer minority status on the varsity.
Justice Khanna asked SG Mehta: “This is an amendment by Parliament. Is the government accepting the amendment?”
“I am not,” SG Mehta replied.
To this, CJI Chandrachud had said: “This will be radical because a law officer would be then telling us that he does not abide by what the Parliament has done. You ought to stand by what the Parliament has done.”
“Parliament is undoubtedly supreme in its law-making function and can always amend a statute. Can we hear any organ of the Union Government say that it does not accept the amendment brought in by Parliament? Parliament is an eternal, indivisible and indestructible entity under democracy,” the CJI had said.
Responding to the query, Mehta had said: “It is not my stand. There is an affidavit filed by the government.”
–IANS
pds/vd
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BhaskarLive.in and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of BhaskarLive.in We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, BhaskarLive.in takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
