'AMU of national importance...brand key, not minority status'

The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has remained an institution of national importance even without a minority tag, the Supreme Court observed on Thursday, adding the brand name is what really matters for the people.

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On the third consecutive day of the hearing related to AMU's minority status, the bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, asked one of the petitioners arguing in favour of the university's minority status to justify why the tag was important when the institution has done well otherwise too.

"Over the last 100 years, without the minority institution status, it (AMU) has continued to be an institution of national importance... Will it really matter for the people whether it remains a minority institution or not? It's only the brand name-AMU," the bench, which also comprised justices Sanjiv Khanna, Surya Kant, JB Pardiwala, Dipankar Datta, Manoj Misra and Satish Chandra Sharma, remarked.

The bench was responding to the submissions made by advocate Shadan Farasat on behalf of one of the petitioners in the batch of cases, led by AMU, seeking minority status under the Indian Constitution. If declared a minority institution, AMU need not reserve seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes (OBC) and economically weaker sections (EWS).

Farasat, appearing for petitioner Hazi Muqeet Ali Qureshi, emphasised in the course of his arguments that if AMU ceases to be a minority institution, it will hamper the higher education for Muslim women in India.

"It's a fact in the community that it sends their children, especially women, to AMU because of its minority status. The court has to take into account some social realities. Minority status of AMU and education for Muslim women have gone hand in hand,” according to Farasat, who said that the 1967 judgment of the Supreme Court in the Azeez Basha case was wrong.