The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the constitutional validity of the 2004 Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, reported Live Law.

However, the bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra held that certain provisions of the Act meant to regulate higher education – with respect to the fazil and kamil degrees offered by madrasas – were potentially in conflict with the University Grants Commission Act and are therefore unconstitutional.

The court’s decision reversed an earlier ruling by the Allahabad High Court, which had struck down the Act in March on the grounds that it violated the secular principles of the Constitution.

The Supreme Court had issued a stay on the High Court’s decision in April, allowing the Act to remain in effect until its final judgement.

The Act provides a legal framework for the functioning of madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, including the integration of the National Council of Educational Research and Training materials alongside religious education.

Section 9 of the Act empowers the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education, primarily composed of Muslim community members, to design and regulate educational content and to oversee examinations for levels ranging from maulvi (class 10 equivalent) to fazil (master’s degree equivalent).

The University Grants Commission Act stipulates that only universities that meet specific statutory requirements are authorised to grant such degrees.

The Uttar Pradesh government defended the constitutionality of the Madarsa Act before the Supreme Court, suggesting that instead of nullifying the entire law, the High Court could have addressed specific provisions it found objectionable.

Chandrachud remarked: “The state does have a vital interest even in ensuring standards in places of religious instruction…to throw out the Act is to throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

The Madarsa Act is consistent with the positive obligation of the state to ensure that the students studying in recognised madrasas attain a level of educational competency that will allow them to participate in society and earn a living, Live Law quoted the court as having ruled.

The Supreme Court said that the High Court had erred in holding that the education provided in madrasas violates Article 25 of the Constitution, which deals with religious freedom. While such institutions do provide religious instruction, their primary objective is education.

The High Court’s March ruling came on a petition filed by Anshuman Singh Rathore challenging the constitutionality of the Act due to its administration by the minority welfare department rather than the education department, as with other minority educational institutions.

High Court Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Subhash Vidyarthi, ruling on the case, had ordered the state to facilitate the transfer of madrasa students to other educational institutions. They also noted concerns about the board’s governance, contrasting it with other minority institutions under the education department.

This judgement took place within the broader context of scrutiny over Islamic educational institutions by the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party government.

A Special Investigation Team established in October 2023 had been examining alleged foreign funding of madrasas, concluding in December that around 80 institutions received approximately Rs 100 crore in overseas funding over three years.

In September, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights told the Supreme Court that madrasas are “unsuitable or unfit” places for children to receive “proper education”.

The child rights body said in its affidavit that the model of education in madrasas is insufficient, and that the Uttar Pradesh Madarsa Education Board and its counterparts in other states lacked standardised curricula.

It also said that madrasas, being exempt from the Right to Education Act, are deprived of regulatory committees “because of which the parents are deprived of information regarding the progress of their children”.

The body had noted that madrasa students are deprived of the benefits given to children in formal schools, such as midday meals, uniforms and trained teachers.

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