AMU Case : To 'Muslims Not Minority In 1920' Argument, Supreme Court Says Present Day Standards Relevant [Day 6]

The issue whether a group constitutes a 'minority' must be decided on the basis of present-day standards and not based on the situation which existed before the commencement of the Constitution of India, observed the Supreme Court on Tuesday during the hearing of the case related to the minority status of the Aligarh Muslim University.The observation of the. The issue whether a group constitutes a 'minority' must be decided on the basis of present-day standards and not based on the situation which existed before the commencement of the Constitution of India, observed the Supreme Court on Tuesday during the hearing of the case related to the minority status of the Aligarh Muslim University. Which is likely to be elements most often from the Hindu community” CJI then asked, “But that begs the question, what does Article 30 recognize in terms of a minority?” Answering the same, Dwivedi said that Article 30 recognizes those groups of persons such as Muslims who subscribe to a different religion, culture, script language and, therefore need protection Picking from there, the CJI said, “These are sociological features which existed prior to 1950”, thus impressing upon the fact that all the differences as identified by Dwivedi in terms of language/ culture/religion were not created overnight but existed in the society even before the making of the constitution. The best test is the objective test.” Enunciating on the principles of Stare decisis, the senior counsel rested his case by contending that the decision in A Basha for more than 50 years has not been challenged in any other rulings of the Supreme Court and it was crucial that Basha's observations not be negated as “ There is greater public mischief to happen if Basha is reconsidered in overruled.we are 56 years down the line” The bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Surya Kant, JB Pardiwala, Dipankar Datta, Manoj Misra and SC Sharma is hearing a reference arising out of the 2006 verdict of the Allahabad High Court which held that AMU was not a minority institution.