Biased HC Judgment on AMU-Act

Memorandum to the Honble Prime Minister Of India Shri Dr. Manmohan Singhji, Appealing for Action for the Restoration of the Minority Character of the Aligarh Muslim University.

Respected and beloved Dr. Manmohan Singhji

Namaste!

To allege that the Aligarh Muslim University was NOT established by the Muslim minority community is a WHITE LIE, to put it in extremely mild language. All that the then British Government did in 1920 was to convert, through a Central Legislature, an existing Muslim College into a Muslim University by magnanimously granting a Charter, in the name of the King Emperor of England! How, on earth, this technical conversion can be construed as establishment of a University, is beyond comprehension. It is nothing but a narrow, silly and presumably mischievous interpretation of the expression established, which was casually used in the short title of the AMU Act of 1920.

In this connection, we wish to point out that in1955; the Parliament passed a legislation to regulate the administration of the Dargah of Shaikh Moinuddin Chisthi (R). Does the passing of that legislation mean the establishment of the dargah? To those who say that the University was established by the then British Government through the AMU Act of 1920, here is our answer. To make a concerted drive for the collection of funds to establish a Muslim University at Aligarh, a Central Foundation Committee was formed with His Highness the Agha Khan III as its Chairman and the famous Freedom Fighter Moulana Shoukath Ali as its Secretary. The revered Ismaili Chief went round the nook and corner of the country as a mendicant and literally begged from house to house and street to street for funds for the educational upliftment of the children of Indian Muslims. The Founder of the University Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Saheb also collected a large sum of money for the proposed Muslim University. So much so, it is on record that by July 1912, a sum of RUPEES TWENTY SIX LAKHS was collected and by the time the University came into existence the donations swelled up to nearly fifty lakhs! Besides, the asset of the M.O.A. College was worth several lakhs. There was no University Grants Commission then to dole out grants to Universities and so not a paisa was given by the then British Government for the establishment of the University.

Thus, it is clear as daylight (except to those who view things through colored spectacles) that the Aligarh Muslim University was established by Indian Muslims for Indian Muslims through the efforts and funds of Indian Muslims. Indian Muslims, therefore, have the least hesitation to emphatically declare, with justified and pardonable pride, that the Aligarh Muslim University was a product of their own hard efforts and with no outside benevolence!

It will not be out of context if a brief history of the AMENDMENTS of the A.M.U. Act is narrated here to emphasize the fact that it is not for the first time that attempt is being made to take away the minority character of the University. On the 11th of October 1951, the first Amendment to the A.M.U. Act was passed. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was then the Prime Minister. The minority character of the University was not taken away altogether but just diluted by making some important changes such as:

1. Throwing open the Membership of the AMU Court to non-Muslims also
2. Granting affiliation to all Colleges within the radius of 15 miles in Aligarh
3. Bringing about changes in the Executive Council and the Academic Council also in accordance with new statutes.

This amendment was certainly not liked by Muslims but there was no massive or impressive agitation because of the tense and dangerous communal environment in the country consequent upon the Partition. What could not be cured had to be patiently endured. But, it is unfortunate that their silence was misinterpreted and/or purposely misrepresented as approval!

The second Amendment was made in 1965, immediately after the murderous attack on Ali Yavar Jung Saheb. This amendment reduced the AMU Court which was supreme governing body of the University to the status of an ordinary Advisory Body! Muslims felt and felt rightly that this amendment deprived the University of its minority character. The ruling in the Azeez Basha case, the Supreme Court, played on the words used in the short title of the Original Act describing the University as an Act to ESTABLISH and incorporate a teaching and residential MUSLIM University in Aligarh

The Third Amendment was made at the instance of the then Union Education Minister Janab Nurul Hasan Saheb, in Smt. Indira Gandhis cabinet. It deaffiliated the Colleges near Aligarh, which were affiliated to it consequent upon the 1951 Amendment.

The Janatha Party Government at the Centre, through an Amendment in 1978, took back the status of the University to the position of 1951.

In 1981, Smt. Indira Gandhiji magnanimously and wisely restored the minority character.

Alas! It was, however, taken away, once again, in 1985.

A few words about the AMUs reservation policy. Under the internal system, the University could admit students from the nearby areas like U.P. and Bihar. Statistics reveal that out of 19,360 students, nearly 16,000 were from the two States. 50\% reservation encourages and enables students from far off areas like TAMILNADU, to join the University. The Badruddin Thyabji Committee in1987 and the Mumtaz Ahmed Khan Committee in 2001 recommended reservations. We reliably understand and believe the same to be true that the former Union HRD Minister Shri Murli Manohar Joshi had himself proposed 50\% reservation for Muslims. Why he and his Party somersault now on this issue is an unsolved mystery.

The argument that reservation will undermine the value and the reputation of the degrees of the University is sheer nonsense. St. Stephen's College in New Delhi has a quota for Christians. Has the value and the reputation of its education gone down because of its reservation quota? NO. Certainly not. Shri Rajiv Dhawan, the great Constitutional Law expert is of the opinion that the 1981 amendments only served to formalize the legal position of the minority character of the AMU. He is reported to have said that, in this issue, the Supreme Courts ruling in TMA PAI Foundation case should be read in conjunction with the Souray Chowdary case, where it said that reservation based on merit must be increased from 25\% to 50\%, implying, thereby, that at least 50\% seats may be reserved by the Institution. The Apex Court has also made it clear that, whilst denying admission on ground of the applicants religion, race, caste or language is prohibited, preferring students of minority groups does not violate Art.29 (2). The Court further ruled that some non-minority students must be admitted by minority institutions but it did not place any ceiling on the reservation. Therefore, the AMU is within its rights to have a quota for Muslims as long it did not deny admission to non-Muslims.

We, respectfully, submit that if the UPA Government restores the minority character of the AMU, its political opponents will cry hoarse that it is doing so to appease the Muslim minority community. Let the caravan move on, unmindful of the barking of the barking dogs. It is, we admit, a fact that the UPA is an ally of the Muslims. But then it is strange but true that even facts must, at times, prove that they are facts and not fictions. The price of the pudding lies in the eating and not in mere proclamations regarding its sweetness. We, therefore, appeal to the UPA Government to take swift and concrete measures to restore the minority character of the University and for this we, humbly, suggest that an appropriate Ordinance be promulgated now and later on an appropriate Amendment to the AMU Act be passed nullifying the adverse effect of the Allahabad High Courts One-Judge Bench verdict.

The intellectual heart of Indian Muslims lies in the AMU. If the University is stripped of its minority character, the heart will stop beating and if it is made to stop beating, such an act will be tantamount to nothing short of a calculated cold-blooded murder of Muslim education in India!

Soliciting your early and favorable response and thanking you in anticipation,