SC stays Allahabad HC order on madrasas

“The remedy would not be to strike down the Madrasa Board Act, but to issue suitable directions to enable students pursuing their education in madrasas to access the quality of education made available by the State in other institutions,” Chief Justice Chandrachud dictated in the order for the Bench.

The court said if the State had a “legitimate public interest” in all students, including those in madrasas, it ought to ensure that “they receive education of a requisite quality and standard which make them qualified to pursue a dignified existence”. Issuing notice to Uttar Pradesh, the court said it would hear detailed arguments in the second week of July. The court said it was left to the choice of students and their parents to stay back or leave madrasas to join mainstream schools. However, it was unwarranted on the part of the High Court to direct their transfer to “regular” schools.

Mr. Nataraj, for Uttar Pradesh, tried to reason that the madrasas had not been shut down after all. He argued that Article 28(1) of the Constitution prohibited religious instruction in educational institutions wholly maintained out of State funds.

The petitioners argued that imparting religious instruction in secular institutions was not proscribed in the Constitution. Besides, subjects other than Islamic theology are taught in madrasas, the petitioners submitted.

They said without the Board, madrasa education would continue unregulated. In his order, the Chief Justice said the High Court seemed to have “conflated the concept of madrasa education with the regulatory powers attached to the Board”. The reasoning was prima facie misconceived.