The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to Jamia Millia Islamia, the University Grants Commission (UGC), and the Central government in response to a petition seeking that the University provide 10% reservation to students from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category during admission.
A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad ordered the authorities to submit their responses to the petition by April 18, when the case will be heard again.
The Court also issued a notice on the interim relief application, which seeks Jamia to postpone the academic year 2023-2024 until the petition is disposed of. The bench tagged the case with a pending petition dealing with Jamia’s minority classification.
The Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Akanksha Goswami, a law student at Delhi University.
The petition claimed that, despite the fact that Jamia was founded in Aligarh in 1920, the parliament passed the Jamia Millia Islamia Act, 1988 through which the University was incorporated as a Central University.
The Court was informed that, despite the fact that parliament passed the 103rd Constitutional Amendment giving 10% reservation to the EWS category, Jamia issued a press release refusing to implement it, citing its status as a minority institution.
According to the PIL, Jamia cannot claim the status of a minority school because it was founded by an Act of Parliament as a Central University, as stated by the Supreme Court decision in S Azeez Basha vs Union of India.
It was also contended that Jamia could not have been designated as a minority institution by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) because it is a university, and the NCMEI Act of 2004 only allows the Commission to designate a college or educational institution as a minority institution.
“The University itself not being established and administered by a minority, but having been established by an act of Parliament, and its governing board being elected not necessarily from any part of a religious group nowhere does the Act authorize the declaration of a university created by statute as a minority institution,” the petition stated.
Furthermore, it was argued that Section 7 of the Jamia Millia Islamia Act states that the university will be available to people of any gender, race, creed, caste, or class, and will not use religious belief as a criterion for admission.
However, the petitioner stated that Jamia has begun offering Muslim students 50% reservation in all courses, which is in direct violation of Section 7 of the Act. The PIL also stated that there is no reservation for SC/ST/OBC/EWS students.
