AMU not a minority institution, why no quota for Dalits’ admission: UP SC/ST panel
AMU had cleared ground recently that the varsity is governed by the AMU Act 1981 which has granted minority status to it and stated that Article 15 (5) of the Indian Constitution exempts minority institutions from implementing constitutional reservations. AMU had cleared ground recently that the varsity is governed by the AMU Act 1981 which has granted minority status to it and stated that Article 15 (5) of the Indian Constitution exempts minority institutions from implementing constitutional reservations.
Asserting that “AMU is not a minority institution”, the Uttar Pradesh Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Commission on Wednesday issued a notice to the University asking it to explain why it does not give reservation to the SC/ST communities. “We have asked (AMU) as to why SC/ST communities have not been given benefits of reservation. Under what circumstances it has been done,” Chairman of UP SC/ST Commission Brij Lal was quoted as saying by PTI.
On Tuesday, AMU had clarified that the varsity is governed by the AMU Act 1981 which has granted minority status to it and stated that Article 15 (5) of the Indian Constitution exempts minority institutions from implementing constitutional reservations.
The clarification had come after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had demanded a quota for Dalits in minority-run institutions like AMU and Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi.
“We have asked why SC/ST communities have not been given benefits of reservation and in what circumstances it has been done so. The Supreme Court has not yet passed any order in which AMU was prevented to provide reservation benefits. In light of the HC and the SC directives, it has been established that the AMU is not a minority institution,” he said.
The case relating to AMU’s minority status is sub judice in the Supreme Court. The previous Congress-led UPA government had moved a petition in the apex court against the Allahabad High Court judgment which held that AMU is not a minority institution.
The current NDA government, however, withdrew the UPA-era petition filed against the Allahabad High Court order and maintained that AMU is not a minority institution.
“The AMU is like any other central university set up under a central Act and runs on its funds. It has to give due reservation,” he said.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) Chairperson Ramshankar Katheria too had on Tuesday directed
the AMU to clarify its stand on reservations for scheduled caste community, failing which it may lose central funding.
Katheria said the Commission had written to the varsity asking why it was not fulfilling its constitutional obligations by providing reservations to the weaker sections.
“If the varsity authorities fail to provide the Commission a suitable answer to the written query asking it to prove that AMU is a minority institution, within a month of receiving the commission’s missive, the NCSC would direct the UGC to stop all funding of AMU for not fulfilling its constitutional obligations,” Katheria had told reporters in Aligarh.
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