NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 16, 2002: The Centre (e.g., the federal government of India) on Tuesday said the religious and linguistic minorities cannot enjoy “absolute rights” under the Constitution to establish and administer their educational institutions. Solicitor General Harish Salve representing the Centre told an eleven-judge bench of the Supreme Court that the minorities’ constitutional rights should be subject to reasonable restrictions. Salve said the content of Article 30 conferring on minorities the right to establish and administer educational institutions was not so wide as to exclude the operation of other laws designed to protect secular objectives. For instance, Salve said if the provision is made absolute, the government cannot interfere with the affairs of a minority institution which teaches secession or armed revolution. He said the content of the right should not overlap other provisions in the public interest. The bench headed by Chief Justice B.N. Kirpal was hearing a bunch of petitions on the extent of the rights the religious and linguistic minorities can exercise in running their educational institutions. Under India’s constitution, minority religions, including Christianity and Islam, can set up and run their own educational institutions with government funding, and can teach their religion in those institutions. Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikhs can set up educational institutions and receive government funding, but are subject to close government management and cannot teach religion in their schools.
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