Delhi High Court upholds decision to close down Maulana Azad Education Foundation

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday upheld a decision of the General Body of the Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF) to close down the foundation which was established to provide assistance to students belonging to educationally backward minorities [Dr Syeda Saiyidain Hameed & Ors v Union of India & Ors]..A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna said that the decision is well considered and was taken by the General Body of MAEF as per the laws.The Court rejected the petitioners' arguments against the dissolution of the MAEF and said there is no impropriety or irregularity in the decision taken."In view of the aforesaid detailed discussion, this Court finds no merit in the present petition and is not inclined to interfere in the considered decision taken by the respondents. Accordingly, the present petition is dismissed, along with the pending applications," the Court concluded. .In a detailed judgement, the Bench said that the government has introduced various programmes designed specifically to cater to the educational and skill development needs of the minority groups and the initiatives being carried by the MAEF have been integrated in comparable initiatives of the Central government. "Therefore, the welfare programmes aimed for the minority communities are being carried out devotedly by the respondent no.1-Ministry. Therefore, it cannot be said that the interest of the minority communities for their educational and welfare development, is being hampered in any manner on account of the dissolution of the MAEF," the Court observed. .The petition was filed by a group of citizens who argued that the government order to close MAEF not only deprived the deserving and meritorious students, especially girl students, from availing the benefits of the schemes of MAEF but was also without jurisdiction and was"completely mala fide, arbitrary and a colourable exercise of authority.“What is even more worrying is the fact that while a process of dissolution of any society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 is to be initiated by a proposal of three-fifth members of that society as per Section 13 of the Act, and its assets are to be transferred similarly to a similar society to be also determined by a vote of three-fifth members as per Section 14, the office order dated 07.02.2024 not only dictates that the MAEF should dissolve itself but also predetermines that the remainder funds of the MAEF would be transferred to the Consolidated Fund of India and its fixed assets shall go to CWC, in a clear and abject violation of the legal regime envisaged under the Societies Registration Act, 1860,” the plea stated.According to a report in the Hindustan Times, MAEF experienced a significant budget cut in the last few years with grants-in-aid dropping from ₹90 crore in 2021-22 to ₹1 lakh in 2022-23. It was then increased to ₹10 lakh in 2023-24 but for the year 2024-25, the foundation did not receive any funds from the government.The same report also said that as of 2021-22, the Maulana Azad National Fellowship had aided over 6,700 candidates, disbursing ₹738.85 crores.However, the scheme was discontinued in 2022, resulting in widespread student protests, the report added..Senior Advocate Anand Grover argued the case for the petitioner.He was assisted by advocates Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, Ibad Mushtaq, Akanksha Rai, Rohin Bhatt and Gurneet Kaur. Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma along with Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Vineet Dhanda and advocates Amit Gupta, Vinay Yadav, Saurabh Tripathi, Vikramaditya Singh, Gurleen Kaur, Archit Aggarwal and Amit Acharya appeared for the Central government. .[Read Judgement]