Social reservation need not to be maintained by minority institutions: MHC

CHENNAI: The social reservation need not to be maintained by the educational institutions, administered and managed by the minorities, said the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court (MHC) and extended the religious (Muslim) minority status to Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed College for Women (Autonomous).

The Minority status is not a tenure status, ergo is not for a limited period, the competent authority may adopt regulatory measures and supervisory measures, to monitor that the institution is manned by the members of the minority, observed the first division bench comprising Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice P D Audikesavalu.

The bench also observed that the government can impose the threshold cap of admitting students from the minority community to 50 percent. However, in the remaining 50 percent of seats, filled on merit from the general category, the students of the minority community can also compete and be admitted on merit and the same would not be counted in the 50 percent threshold cap meant for the minority students.

Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed College for Women moved the MHC to direct the government to extend the religious minority status to the college.

According to the petitioner college in 2021 November the State government issued an order rejecting the extension of religious minority status to the college as it has admitted more than 50 percent of the Muslim minority students during the year 2016-17, 2018-19, and 2019-20.

Senior counsel Vijay Narayan appeared for the college contended that the government does not have the right and authority to fix the cap for admission of students belonging to a minority community in a minority institution. The State has no power to interfere with the administration of the minority educational institutions, both aided and unaided, which affects the minority character of such institutions and is unlawful and unconstitutional, submitted the counsel.

Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram appeared for the State contended that the right to admit students in minority institutions is not an absolute right of a minority institution. The State has regulated all minority educational institutions imparting higher education to reserve 50 percent of the seats for the minority to safeguard their minority character and earmarking of seats to a maximum threshold of 50 percent was adopted by the State government to safeguard merit-based admission.

However, the bench quashed the order issued by the government refusing to extend the minority status of the college.