In a 4:3 majority verdict, the Constitution bench of the Supreme Court overruled the 1967 verdict which took away Aligarh Muslim University’s minority status. Pronouncing the majority verdict, Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud ruled that an institution will not lose its minority status just because it was incorporated as per statute passed by Parliament.
A seven-member Constitution bench led by Chief Justice Chandrachud delivered four separate verdicts in the case on Friday. While Chief Justice Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra gave majority verdicts, Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and S.C. Sharma pronounced separate dissenting judgments.
Pronouncing the majority verdict, Chief Justice Chandrachud held an institution will not lose its minority status just because it was established under a statute passed by Parliament. Laying down guidelines to decide on an institution’s minority status in the majority verdict, the chief justice said a three-member bench will decide on AMU’s minority status based on the majority verdict.
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The majority verdict held that the Court must examine who established the University and who was the "brain" behind it, Live Law reported. “If that enquiry is pointing towards minority community, then the institution can claim minority status as per Article 30. For this factual determination, the matter has been now relegated to the regular bench,” the publication reported quoting the majority verdict.
The apex court directed case papers to be placed before CJI for setting up a fresh bench to decide the validity of the 2006 Allahabad HC verdict.
