Centre to withdraw AMU appeal

Attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi on Monday informed the Supreme Court that the NDA government has decided to withdraw the appeal against an Allahabad high court judgment rejecting minority status to Aligarh Muslim University.

Initially, the AG informed the bench, consisting of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice Uday Lalit hearing an appeal relating to the appointment of Lt. Gen. Zameer Uddin Shah as the AMU vice-chancellor, of the government’s decision. Later in the afternoon he made the same statement before a three-judge bench comprising Justices J.S. Khehar, Madan B. Lokur and C. Nagappan hearing the appeals relating to minority status for AMU.

Tracing the history of the appeals, the AG said the AMU was set up as a Central university under a 1920 legislation. A Constitution bench in 1967 in the “Azeez Basha” case had held that AMU cannot be granted minority status. In 1981, an amendment was introduced in the act restoring minority status to AMU and this was struck down by the Allahabad high court in light of the Constitution bench judgment in “Azeez Basha”. The AG said the then UPA government and AMU filed appeals against this verdict. The present stand of the government is it has decided to withdraw its appeal and it will be left to AMU to continue with the appeal. He said that since AMU was set up by a parliamentary enactment, granting minority status will be contrary to Article 15 of the Constitution, which prohibits discrimination by the State on the grounds of religion.

Endorsing senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan’s submission earlier that the matter should be referred to a seven-judge bench if the court were to review the decision in the “Azeez Basha” case, the AG said it will be left to the court to take a call during the hearing of the appeals.

Senior counsel P.P. Rao, appearing for AMU said he would proceed with the appeal to seek minority status. Former law minister Salman Khurshid, representing former AMU students, said he was filing intervening applications in support of AMU. Earlier, the bench comprising the CJI sought the Central government’s stand on a special leave petition seeking a direction to quash the appointment of the AMU vice-chancellor. The Allahabad high court had dismissed a writ challenging the appointment of Lt. Gen. Zameer Uddin Shah in May 2012, on the ground that according to the UGC regulations, the VC ought to have worked for at least 10 years as a professor.