Why the Supreme Court upheld constitutional validity of UP Madarsa Act, 2004

What is the Madarsa Act?

Madarsas supply some spiritual acquisition successful Islamic tenets and practices arsenic good arsenic mainstream secular education. Most madarsas travel the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) curriculum.

The Madarsa Act provides a ineligible model for these institutions successful UP. It has established the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education (the Board), which prepares and prescribes people material, and conducts exams for each courses. The Act besides gives powerfulness to the authorities authorities to make rules to modulate madarsa education.

Why did Allahabad HC quash the Act?

On March 22, the Allahabad HC struck down the Act successful its entirety, saying it violated the basic structure of the Constitution arsenic the instrumentality flouted the principles of secularism. In Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala (1973), the SC had held that Parliament cannot change the Constitution’s basal structure, and successful S R Bommai v Union of India (1994) had ruled that secularism is portion of the basal structure.

The HC said the Act made it compulsory for students to survey Islam and much modern subjects were made optional. It held that the authorities cannot “discriminate” by providing acquisition based connected religion.

The HC besides stated that the Act violated the close to escaped and compulsory acquisition nether Article 21A of the Constitution by denying “quality” acquisition successful modern subjects.

It said the Board’s powers to assistance higher acquisition degrees specified arsenic Fazil and Kamil — equivalent to a bachelor’s and a postgraduate grade respectively — nether the Act conflicted with the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 (UGC Act), a cardinal instrumentality that takes precedence successful matters related to education.

Why did SC uphold the Act?

The SC acceptable speech the HC’s verdict connected 3 main grounds:

BASIC STRUCTURE TEST NOT NEEDED: Constitutional amendments are tested against the basic operation doctrine, not an mean legislation.

In its ruling, the SC underlined this, citing its determination successful Indira Gandhi v Raj Narain (1975), which pertained to an amendment to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, that was enacted to reverse the Allahabad HC’s ruling to disqualify Indira from participating successful elections. The amendment was challenged for violating the Constitution’s basal structure. However, the SC held that the statement that the amendment violates the basal operation was excessively “vague and indefinite” to find the validity of an mean law.

In the Madarsa Act case, the SC said for a instrumentality to beryllium struck down for violating the rule of secularism, it indispensable beryllium “traced to explicit provisions [Articles] of the Constitution”.

STATE CAN REGULATE MADARSAS: The SC said truthful agelong arsenic the regularisation is “reasonable and rational”, states tin modulate aspects of acquisition successful number institutions without violating their rights to grip the administration. The Madarsa Act does this “without depriving the acquisition institutions of their number character,” the SC ruled.

The tribunal besides referred to Entry 25 of the Concurrent database successful the Constitution which allows some states and the Centre to enact laws connected the taxable of “Education”. It said this indispensable beryllium fixed the “broadest meaning” and includes institutions that supply spiritual education.

RIGHT TO EDUCATION & MINORITY INSTITUTIONS: In 2014, the SC heard a situation to the constitutionality of Article 21A. The tribunal held that the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2006 (RTE Act) indispensable not use to number institutions arsenic it whitethorn destruct their number character.

The SC successful the Madarsa Act lawsuit referred to this determination and held that the HC had erred by striking down the instrumentality for violating the close to education. The tribunal besides stated that number institutions specified arsenic madarsas person a close to supply spiritual acquisition and grip their ain medication nether Article 30.

Why did SC onslaught down higher acquisition provisions of the Act?

The SC ruled that a portion of the Madarsa Act’s Section 9 — which allows the Board to prescribe coursework, behaviour exams, and assistance degrees to those who person finished Kamil and Fazil courses — is contrary to the UGC Act. Under Section 22 of the UGC Act, lone universities which person been established nether a cardinal oregon authorities Act oregon person been “deemed” to beryllium universities by the UGC tin assistance degrees. Therefore, the SC struck down a portion of the Section 9.