Big relief to UP madarsas, Supreme Court says 2004 law valid, High Court erred

In a massive relief to about 17 lakh madarsa students in Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the constitutional validity of the Madarsa Education Act 2004, cancelling the Allahabad High Court order that struck down the law on grounds that it violated the principles of secularism.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra gave the verdict against the High Court’s March 22 judgement that declared the Act as “unconstitutional” and violative of the principle of secularism.
The High Court had also asked the Uttar Pradesh government to accommodate madarsa students in the formal schooling system.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the Supreme Court bench said, “We have upheld the validity of UP Madarsa Education Act. The statute can be struck down if a state lacks legislative competence.”
“The Allahabad High Court erred in holding that the madarsa law had to be struck down for violating basic structure, which is the principle of secularism. The legislative scheme of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act was to standardise the level of education being prescribed in madrasas,” it added.
The Supreme Court further said that madarsas granting ‘fazil’ and ‘kamil’ degrees beyond class 12 cannot be recognised by the Uttar Pradesh Madarsa Board as these are in conflict with the UGC Act and to that extent it was unconstitutional.
Tuesday’s ruling means that madarsas would continue to function in Uttar Pradesh with the state regulating the education standards.
The Supreme Court further said that the Act does not interfere with the day-to-day working of the madrasas.
“The Act is to protect the rights of a minority in Uttar Pradesh and is consistent with the positive obligation of the state, which ensures the students to pass out and earn a decent livelihood. The mere fact that a legislation includes some sort of religious training or instruction does not make it unconstitutional,” it noted.
On whether the entire Act should be struck down on the ground of lack of legislative competence, the court said, “In our view, it is in failing to adequately address this question of severability that the High Court falls into error and ends up throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”
The court’s “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” remark was a repetition of what it had said on October 22 when it reserved its judgement on the Allahabad High Court order.
Some 23,500 madarsas currently function in Uttar Pradesh. Of these, 16,513 are recognised, which means that they are registered with the state government.
Among the recognised madarsas, 560 are funded by the Uttar Pradesh government.
Before its verdict today, the Chief Justice-led bench heard a number of lawyers on behalf of eight petitioners, including Anjum Kadari, besides Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj, who appeared for the Uttar Pradesh government, for almost two days.
On October 22, while reserving its judgement on the High Court order, the top court emphasised that “secularism means to live and let live” and also highlighted the importance of accommodating diverse religious instruction in education.
Even on April 5, the Supreme Court had stayed the High Court order, observing that secularism meant to “live and let live”.