On Tuesday, a plea challenging a Gauhati High Court order, which upheld the Assam Repealing Act of 2020 under which all existing provincialized madrassas in the state are to be converted to regular government schools was moved to the Supreme Court
The High Court on February 4 dismissed the petition challenging the validity of the act, stating that such state-funded institutions can’t impart religious instructions. The appeal has been filed by 13 petitioners, who are residents of Assam.
Plea in SC challenging Assam govt’s decision to convert madrassas to general schools
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According to the reports, the plea, filed through advocate Adeel Ahmed, quoted, “The high court has erroneously observed that the petitioner madrassas being government schools, and wholly maintained by the State through provincialization are hit by Article 28(1) of the Constitution of India and as such, cannot be permitted to impart religious instruction.”
The plea further stated that the operation of the high court judgment, which was delivered on February 4, 2022, would result in the discontinuation of the petitioner madrassas as madrassas and would prevent them from admitting students for the old courses for this academic year. “The land and building belonging to the madrassas are taken care of by the Petitioners and the expenditures on electricity and Furniture are borne by the Petitioner Madrassas themselves”, it read.
The plea added that the Act takes away property coupled with statutory recognition of madrassa education and the impugned order dated February 2, 2021, issued by the Governor disbands the ‘Assam State Madrasa Board’ created in 1954. “It amounts to an arbitrary exercise of both legislative and executive powers and amounts to a denial of the petitioner madrassas’ ability to continue as madrassas providing religious instruction coupled with religious education”.
The Assam Repealing Act, 2020 repealed Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialization) Act, 1995 and the Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialization of Services of Teachers and Reorganization of Educational Institutions) Act, 2018. The Governor of Assam had granted his assent to the bill on January 27, 2021.
Assam has 189 state-run high madrasas and madrasa higher secondary schools that are run under the Board of Secondary Education, Assam, and the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council. There are also 542 state-run pre-senior, senior, and title madrasas and Arabic colleges which are run by the State Madrasa Education Board. CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had stated that the government cannot be funding religious schools. The new Act had stopped government funding to Sanskrit tols too.
