Plea for EWS reservation at Jamia Millia: Delhi High Court seeks responses from University, UGC, Central government

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Jamia Millia Islamia, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Central government on a plea demanding that the University must provide 10% reservation to Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category students at the time of admission. .A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad directed the authorities to file their responses to the plea by April 18, when the matter will be heard next. The Court also issued notice on the interim relief application that demands that Jamia should not proceed with the admission process for the academic year 2023-2024 till the final disposal of the petition. The bench tagged the case with a pending petition that deals with the issue of minority status of Jamia. .The Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Delhi University law student Akanksha Goswami. The plea stated that though Jamia was established in the year 1920 in Aligarh, the parliament passed the Jamia Millia Islamia Act, 1988 through which the University was incorporated as a Central University. The Court was told that though parliament passed the 103rd Constitutional Amendment granting 10% reservation to the EWS category, Jamia issued a press release refusing to implement the same, citing its status as a minority institution. The PIL said that because Jamia has been established by an Act of Parliament as a Central University, as per the Supreme Court's judgment in S Azeez Basha v Union of India, it cannot claim the status of a minority institution. .It was further argued that Jamia could not have been declared a minority institution by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) since it is a university, and the NCMEI Act, 2004 empowers the Commission to confer the status of a minority institution only on a college/educational institution."The University itself not being established and administered by a minority, but having been established by an act of Parliament, and its governing board being elected not necessarily from any part of a religious group, nowhere does the Act authorize the declaration of a university created by statute as a minority institution," the plea stated..Moreover, it was submitted that Section 7 of the Jamia Millia Islamia Act says that the University will be open to persons of either sex and any race, creed, caste or class, and will not adopt any test of religious belief for admisssion. However, the petitioner stated that Jamia has started giving 50% reservation to Muslim students in every course, which is in direct conflict with Section 7 of the Act. It also does not provide any reservation to SC/ST/OBC/EWS students, the PIL added. "Treating a central university as a minority education institution is repugnant to law and it also undermines its status and is against the basic tenet of a central university... by no stretch of imagination article 30(1) of the constitution of India could be read to mean that even if educational institution has been established by a central act, still the minority has the right to administer it.".Senior Advocate Arun Bhardwaj argued the petitioner's case. He was assisted by advocates Akash Vajpai and Ayush Saxena.