Aligarh Muslim University Minority Status Case : Live Updates From Supreme Court [Day 5]

SG : its a misnomer to say supreme governing body...supreme governing body, but for anything apart that provided under the statute. The statute confers absolute power on the executive council about admissions. Then this court will not come into the picture. If the ordinance provides supreme power of say rustication of students etc that would be decided by those 15-16 people of the academic or executive council, not by 180 people sitting together.

Suryakant J : the court is only supreme with respect to those powers which are not expressly or by implication conferred...

SG: yes, therefore residuary, that's my respectful submission

Suryakant J : that's what the provision says

SG: that's the interpretation 

SG : let us read the section as amended ....supreme body with residuary powers. It is the real power that have to flow from the statute

SG refers to S.23 as amended by the 1951 Act 

Khanna J : this is what was highlighted by them, because once you hold that the court was a supreme governing body then and the pre-1951 position was that they were all Muslims that is the contradiction pointed out in the judgment.

Khanna J : Because here they clearly say that the court will be the supreme governing body of the institution. You said there's a distinction between policy and administration ... what you highlighted was that policy is equivalent to administration which will be slightly debatable. Here the contradiction which is pointed out is the judgement refers to several provisions and holds that the court in not the supreme administrative body and then in paragraph over here, they themselves contradicted in saying that the court is still maintained as the supreme governing body of the institution ... I am just highlighting. 

SG continues reading from Basha

SG reads from the judgement, the observations of the select committee which was not happy with the proviso in S.23 that all members of the court would be Muslims

SG: this was the genesis, of what my learned friend talks of genesis, we are establishing that this was a secular university, but they say we had given into their request

"Section 3 of the 1920-Act laid down that "the First Chancel- lor, Pro-Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor shall be the persons appointed in this behalf by a notification of the Governor General in Council in the Gazette of India-and the persons specified in the schedule [shall be] the first members of the Court" and they happened to be all Muslims. Further s. 3 constituted a body corporate by the name of the Aligarh Muslim University and this body corporate was to have perpetual succession and a Common Seal and could sue and be sued by that name. Section 4 dissolved the M.A.0. College and the Muslim University Association and all property, movable and immovable, and all rights, powers and privileges of the two said societies, and all property, movable and immovable, and all rights, powers and privileges of the Muslim University Foundation Committee were transferred and 'vested in the Aligarh University and were to be applied to the objects and purposes for which the Aligarh University was incorporated....."

It is necessary to refer to the history previous to the establishment of the Aligarh University in 1920 in order to understand the contentions raised on either side. It appears that as far back as 1870 Sir Syed Ahmad Khan thought, that the backwardness of the Muslim community was due to their neglect of modern education. He therefore conceived the idea of imparting liberal education to Muslims in literature and science while at the same time instruction was to be given in Muslim religion and traditions also. With this object in mind, he organised a Committee to devise ways and means for educational regeneration of Muslims and in May 1872 a society called the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College Fund Committee was started for collecting subscriptions to realise the goal that Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had conceived. In consequence of the activities of the committee a school was opened in May 1873. In 1876, the school became a High School and in 1877 Lord Litton, then Viceroy of India, laid the foundation stone for the establishment of a college. The Muhammadan Anglo Oriental College, Aligarh hereinafter referred to as the M.A.0. College) was established thereafter and was, it is said, a flourishing institution by the time Sir Syed Ahmad Khan died in 1898.

SG takes the bench to Azeez Basha v. UOI

SG now reads Justice Chagla's Statements in the Parliamentary debate on 1965 AMU amendment act