Md Faraz Ahmad IV Semester Department of Law Sikkim University Gangtok

1. MINORITIES
RIGHTS IN INDIA

2. • According to Wharton Concise Law Dictionary the word
‘minority’ means “an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority is a
group numerically smaller than the rest of population…
• A Sociological minority is not necessarily numerically minority.
• The Constitution of India does not define the word ‘minority’.
• Article 30(1) starts with the word ‘all minorities whether based
on religion or language…”
• In Re Kerala Education Bill (AIR 1958 SC 956) – The
Supreme Court observed that it easy to say minority meant a
community which is numerically less than 50 per.
• But the question arose that 50 percent of what?
INTRODUCTION

3. • Existence of the Minority concept.
• After First World War the International protection of
Minorities became the great fashion.
• The universal declaration of Human Rights 1948 and its two
covenant of 1966- “all human beings are equal…”.
• The Sub-commission for Prevention of Discrimination and
Protection of Minorities- Which defined the term ‘minority’
and also gave certain rights to the minority people.
BACKGROUND

4. The State Minority Commission Act usually empowers the Local
Government to notify the minorities- i.e.
• Sec 2© of Bihar Minorities Commission Act, 1991.
• Sec 2(d) of Karnataka Minorities Commission Act, 1994.
• Sec 2(d) of Uttar Pradesh Minorities Commission Act, 1994.
• Sec 2© of West Bengal Minorities Commission Act, 1996.
• Sec 2(d) of Andhra Pradesh Minorities Commission Act, 1998.
• Sec 2(d) of Madhya Pradesh Minorities Commission Act, 1996.
• Sec 2(d) of Delhi Minorities Commission Act, 1999. etc..
STATE COMMISSION
FOR MINORITIES

5. • In India, Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution prohibits the
state from making any discrimination on the grounds only of
religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or
any of them (Article 15) or
• In matters relating to employment or appointment to any
office under the state (Article 16).
• However, the provisions of these two articles do take adequate
cognizance of the fact that there had been a wide disparity in
the social and educational status of different sections of a
largely caste-based, tradition- bound society with large-scale
poverty and illiteracy.
RIGHTS OF MINORITIES

6. EQUALITY

7. Articles 29 confer the following rights to the minorities-:
• The minority people have the right to protect their language,
script and culture, and conserve the same- Article 29(1)
• The minority people have the right to admission into any
educational institution maintained by the state or receiving aid
out of state funds- Article 29(2) (State of Madras v.
Champakam AIR 1951 SC 226)
• Art. 15(4) was inserted in the Constitution in its first
amendment after the Champakam case. It provided reservation
in educational institution for schedule castes and schedule
tribes.
CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS

8. • Any reservation of seats in any educational institution is not
justified under Art. 15(4) cannot be valid. The kind of
communal reservation invalidated in Champakam would still
be valid under Art. 15(4) as that reservation was based on
religion, race, caste and was not based on the backward classes,
schedule castes and schedule tribes only.
• This article is confined only to minority but extends to all
citizens whether belonging to minority or majority group.
• Article 29 does not refer to any religion, even though the
marginal note of the article mentions the interest of minorities
CONT..

9. • The minorities have the right to establish educational institution
basing on religion or language of their choice- Article 30(1)
• The minorities have the right to administer the educational
institution basing on religion or language of their choice-
Article 30(1)
• In Ahmedabad St. Xavier College v. State of Gujarat AIR 1974
SC 1389- Supreme court pointed out the spirit behind the Art.
30(1) is the conscience of the nation that the minorities,
religious as well as linguistic, are not prohibited from
establishing and administering educational institutions of their
choice for the purpose of giving their children the best general
education to make them complete men and women of the
ARTICLE 30

10. • The minorities have the right to get the compensation for the
compulsory acquisition of any property of an educational
institution established by them-Article 30 (1-a)
• Art. 30(1-a) was added in 1978 by 44th Amendment to the
Constitution of India. This article became necessary because
Art. 31 was being abrogated from the Constitution.
• But the question arose whether State is to give adequate
compensation for the property acquired? Supreme Court in
Society of St. Joseph College v. Union of India commented on
the scope of this article that it has been introduced in
Constitution because the Parliament in its constituent capacity
apprehended that the minority educational institution could be
compelled to close down or curtail their activities by the
expedient of acquiring their property and paying them
inadequate amount as compensation
CONT..

11. • The word ‘administer’ and ‘establish’ in Art. 30(1) have to be
read conjunctively. Therefore, a minority can claim a right to
administer an educational institution only if it has been
establish by it and not otherwise. The Court in T.M.A. Pai
case was unanimously of the view that the right to establish
and administer an institution in Art. 30(1) of Constitution
comprises the rights (a) to admit students (b) to setup a
reasonable fee structure © to constitute a governing body (d)
to appoint staff (teaching or non-teaching), and (e) to take
action if there is negligence of duty on the part of any of the
employees.
ESTABLISH AND ADMINISTER

12. • Art. 30(2)- The government shall not show any discrepancy in
granting the aid to educational institutions established by
minorities.
• The state cannot discriminate the institution established by the
minorities with the institutions established by the majority.
CONT..

13. We can see the consequences of not defining the term ‘minority’
in the Constitution in the legal interpretation of the different
courts in India.
The difference is not only in the courts but we can look into our
daily lives discussion with the people.
Guidelines for implementation of Prime Minister’s New 15 Point
Programme for the Welfare of Minorities which provides certain
privileges to the people belonging to the minorities group. There
are several schemes made by the government but failed to
implement the same.
CONCLUSION