Educational rights of minorities: A constitutional conundrum

Rakesh Chandra

Educational rights of minorities: A constitutional conundrum

Authors
Rakesh Chandra

Abstract
Taking a clue from The Objective Resolution, moved by Jawahar Lal Nehru at the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly which contained a pledge that adequate safeguards shall be provided for minorities, Article 30 (1) of the Constitution has enshrined a guarantee to all minorities, whether based on religion or on language, the right to establish and administer educational institution of their choice. The state was prohibited from discriminating against any educational institution on the ground that it was under the management of a religious or linguistic minority (Article 30 (2)).

Several questions have been raised before the Courts in India, especially the High Coutts and the Supreme Court, whenever the state failed to provide adequate protection to minorities including the Article 30 of the Constitution. As a matter of chance, the pronouncement of the Courts have not been consistent in this regard. Sometimes the protection under Art. 30 (1) was declared as “Special Right” and other times the principle of “Equal Rights” was upheld. Similarly, the distinction between “State-aided” minority educational institutions and “unaided” ones also cost differing judgments. Even in case of Right to Education (Article 21-A), varying views were expressed by the courts regarding minority safeguards.

At present, there persists a state of confusion regarding interpretation of Article 30 which needs to be clarified by a larger bench of the Supreme Court. This paper deals with such and other related issues and tries to find a few answers within the ambit of the Constitution.

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