NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 31, 2002: In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court on Thursday said the minority community (meaning Christians and Muslims) had an unfettered right to establish and administer educational institutions based on religion but if they received aid from the state they would be subject to government rules and regulations. One regulation is that any such institution accepting government funds cannot deny admission to students from other communities on the basis of religion, caste, race or language. The court also upheld the government’s right to interfere in the management of a minority institution if the administration failed to be “transparent” or if merit was not given due primacy in the admission of students. The Supreme Court, while upholding the minority community’s right to establish and administer educational institutions, said the same right was available to the majority community. Answering the question on the meaning of “minority,” it said the states had been reorganized on the basis of language and hence the question of religious and linguistic minority had to be considered on state-wise basis. The court held that even an unaided minority-run school could be required to admit a certain percentage of students from other communities, the percentage being set by the local state government for the institution. HPI adds: This ruling does not impact the system in India that Hindu-run educational institutions aided by the government are not allowed to teach Hindu religion, while minority-run schools aided by the government are allowed to teach their religion.
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