Aligarh Muslim University Minority Status: Live Updates From Supreme Court Hearing [Day 6]

SG : this is my last submission, two things are to be highlighted, 1. why this issue arose and we are before your lordships and 2. see the consequences if your lordships were to interfere and are not in appeal against Basha ... what would be the consequence of an institution which the constitutional assembly declared to be a Institution of National Importance 

SG gives illustrations on how the factum of founding/ establishing is always recognised whenever the legislature wants to be recognised by the legislature itself and how it is recognised.

CJI : your argument is that article 30 incorporates twin tests - establishment and administration. Basha came to the conclusion that 1. AMU was not established by Muslims though it does recognise the history of the MAO etc because it was established by statute, that was the first limb of Basha; 2. on the review of the Act that it was not administered by the Muslims....1981 amendment according to you was intended to recognise the historical fact of the establishment of the university and brought about change both in terms of the definition of the preamble and definition of university...

CJI: but the second limb of Basha was that it has to be administered by the minority was... there was no alterations wrt the existing the statutory provisions with regards administration and therefore it was put across by Mr Banatwala that you cannot override Basha unless you deal with both establishment and administration test, and you had left the administration intact and therefore in that sense it would not fall in the ambit of ....

SG; Basha still stands, would stand

CJI: therefore your contention is that the 1981 Act did not take away the basis of Basha 

Datta J : when was for the first the institution was recognised as minority institution ?

SG: this? was never recognised

Khanna J : merely because the statute provides for the word administration cannot lead to a finding that it was a minority or majority institution. .... if we accept that argument it will lead to difficulty , how can that be? merely because administration is provided by the statute that may not be criteria. We have to find out who are the people actually administering it ...

SG : I bow down, the statute as it stood in 1981 and in that context examining the request of Mr Banatwala that right now it not our administration and therefore we are unable to fall in the second part of article 30(1) that establishment yes, but not administered by us 

CJI: it is clear that the object of the government of the day in introducing this 1981 amendment was to recognise the historical fact as the union minister says that it was to recognise that it was established by the Muslims of India

SG: before that she says that it was a part of our election manifesto and I leave it to that...lordships may recognise the danger if the parliament was permitted to recognise a hundred years of history ....

CJI: that is parliament's exclusive domain we cannot control that...the policy underlying...

SG : I am very happy, I am dealing with the university issue but parliament deals with several historical facts, I am very happy

CJI: subject to constitutional validity offcourse.

SG refers to Parliament Debates that took place during the 1981 Amendments of the AMU Act

SG reads on Hassan's Reply on demands to made AMU as minority institution under Article 30 - in 72 there was a demand to declare it as minority, and the education minister said it is not the in the interest of the nation nor in the interest of the community.

SG refers to Minister of Social Welfare Prof Narul Hassan on the mandate of the AMU Chancellor while amending the Act of 1920

SG : even if history is to be gone into, there are two sets....I am posing a question to myself which part of history is true, therefore from the prudence test , whenever the statute recognises or wants to recognise by a legislative enactment the founding events, my lord it would be final and the statute takes over and it becomes a complete code.

The Court stands up to observe a 2 min silence to honor the Martyrs