The Supreme Court has dismissed a fresh petition that challenged the top court’s 2020 judgment upholding the Bengal government’s power to appoint teachers at aided madrasas.
A bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Augustine George Masih on Monday dismissed the petition filed under Article 32 (for enforcement of fundamental rights) by the managing committee of Contai Rahmania High Madrasah in Bengal, challenging a two-judge bench ruling on January 6, 2020.
The Supreme Court found no merit in the plea and dismissed the same with a fine of ₹1 lakh.
Legally, the petitioner could have only filed a review petition since their original writ petition had already been dismissed. But in this case, the managing committee filed a writ petition by relying on the Supreme Court’s recent judgment in the Vasanta Sampat Dupare case, wherein the top court had reopened the death sentence case of a convict and commuted it to a life sentence.
On January 6, 2020, the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutional validity of the West Bengal Madrasah Service Commission Act, 2008, which empowered the Commission to appoint teachers at or recommend their names to aided Muslim madrasas, even though minority institutions are free to administer themselves without governmental interference under Article 30.
The court had said the appointments of teachers, whether of minorities or of the majority, should be based on merit and in the national interest.
The bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U.U. Lalit (both since retired), while passing the verdict, had referred extensively to various earlier Supreme Court judgments, including the 2002 ruling by an 11-judge bench in the T.M.A Pai case. The top court ruled in the T.M.A Pai case that the rights enjoyed by minority institutions under Article 30 are not unfettered but are subject to reasonable restrictions.
“Selection of meritorious students has been accepted to be in the national interest. A minority institution cannot in the name of right under Article 30(1) of the Constitution, disregard merit or merit-based selection of students as regards professional and higher education. The right to take disciplinary action against the staff has also not been accepted to be an unqualified right,” the bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U.U. Lalit said.
When it comes to the right to appoint teachers, in terms of law laid down in the T.M.A. Pai Foundation case a regulation framed in the national interest must necessarily apply to all institutions regardless whether they are run by majority or minority as the essence of Article 30(1) is to ensure equal treatment between the majority and minority institutions, the court had said.
The bench had, however, said the minority institutions are free to reject the nomination or recommendation made by the Commission if the candidate so recommended is found to be unsuitable.