IN A major relief to madarasas in Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the constitutional validity of the 2004 State law regulating the Muslim minority educational institutions and said a statute cannot be struck down on the ground of secularism. The significant ruling, which overturned an Allahabad High Court decision, would benefit over 17 lakh students studying in over 16,000 madarasas recognised by the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarasa education under the State law. The High Court had asked for the closure of such institutions and directed the State Government to accommodate students in a formal schooling system. The top court said a statute could be declared ultra vires on two grounds -- being beyond the ambit of the legislative competence or violating fundamental rights or any other Constitutional provision.

 

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra therefore set aside the High Court verdict quashing the 2004 law on the ground that it was violative of the principle of secularism. MinervaMillscaseof1980,declaredtwo provisions of the 42nd Amendment, which prevented any constitutional amendmentfrombeing“calledinquestion in any court on any ground” and accorded precedence to the Directive Principles of State Policy over the fundamental rights of individuals, as unconstitutional. Article 31C protects a law made underArticles 39(b) and (c) empoweringtheStatetotakeovermaterialresourcesofthecommunity,including private properties, for distribution to subserve the common good. The topcourt hadheard 16 petitions, including the lead petition filed by the Mumbai-based Property Owners’ Association (POA) in 1992.

 

The POA has opposed Chapter VIIIA of theMaharashtra HousingandArea Development Authority (MHADA) Act. Inserted in 1986, the chapter empowers State authorities to acquire cessed buildings and the land on which those are built if 70 per cent of the occupants makesucharequestforrestorationpurposes. TheMHADAAct was enacted inpursuance of Article 39(b), which is part of the Directive Principles of State Policy and makes it obligatory forthe State to create a policy towards securing “that theownershipandcontrolofthematerial resources of the community are so distributedasbesttosubservethecommon good”.