HC says Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Act violates secularism
State government has no power to create a board for religious education and students must be accommodated in regular schools, says Bench
Terming the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Act, 2004 unconstitutional, the Allahabad High Court on Friday said the Act was found to be a violation of secularism.
The court said it was not possible to segregate and save any portion of the Act that would be of any relevance and maintained that the state has no power to create a board for religious education or to establish a board for school education only for a particular religion and philosophy associated with it.
A Bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Subhash Vidyarthi — while dealing with a writ petition filed by Anshuman Singh Rathore which had challenged the legality of Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Board on the ground that the same violated the principle of secularism and Articles 14, 15 and 21A of the Constitution — said it was the duty of the State to provide education, which is secular in nature, more particularly for minors, i.e., children up to the age of 18. “...it is the duty of the state to provide education which is secular in nature. It cannot discriminate and provide different types of education to children belonging to different religions. Any such action on the part of state would be violative of secularism, which is part of the basic structure of the Constitution. Such an action on the part of the state is not only unconstitutional but also highly divisive of the society on religious lines,” the court noted.
‘No equivalence’
It added that education under the Madrasa Act is certainly not equivalent to the education being imparted to the students of other regular educational institutions recognised by the State primary, high school and intermediate Boards.
The court further observed that while the students of all other religions are getting educated in modern subjects, denial of the same quality by the Madrasa Board amounts to violation of both Articles 21A and 21.
Based on the government’s submissions about the substantial presence of madrasas in U.P., the court directed it to take steps forthwith for accommodating these madrasa students in regular schools recognised under the Primary Education Board and schools recognised under the High School and Intermediate Education Board of U.P.
The Delhi High Court on Friday said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had successfully put forth a case for “reappreciation of the entire evidence” in the 2G spectrum allocation case in which former Telecom Minister A. Raja, and others were acquitted in 2017.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said: “On the basis of material on record, and after going through the sworn testimonies, material on record, impugned judgment and the submissions made at bar by both the parties...there is a prima facie case which requires deeper examination and reappreciation/reappraisal of entire evidence.”
The judge said during the hearing that he had noticed “some contradictions in the [2018] judgment itself, which require deeper examination”.
“The court at this stage is required to have a prima facie helicopter view. There may be a possibility that such contradictions are explained by the defence during the hearing,” the judge added.
The verdict came five years after the CBI approached the High Court challenging the trial court verdict acquitting the accused in the 2G case.
The High Court had reserved its decision on March 14. The case was currently at the stage of ‘leave to appeal’, which is a formal permission granted by a court to a party to challenge a decision in a higher court.
In December 2017, a Special CBI court here had acquitted Mr. Raja, DMK MP K. Kanimozhi and others in the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) cases relating to the 2G case, noting that the prosecution had “miserably failed” to prove the charges.
The Special CBI court also acquitted 17 others, including late DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal, Vinod Goenka, Asif Balwa, film producer Karim Morani, P. Amirtham and Sharad Kumar, director of Kalaignar TV, in the case.
On March 19, 2018, the ED approached the High Court challenging the special court’s order acquitting all the accused.