Minority Educational Institutions and the Supreme Court after the T. M. A. Pai Judgment

Abstract

The Constitution of India provides the most basic inalienable rights under Part III. Out of the many provided fundamental rights under Part III of the Constitution, it also specifically provides for the educational rights of the minorities to ‘establish and administer the educational institutions of their choice’ under Article 30. These words under Article 30 have been and are still subject of intense debate. The same language of democracy, equality, and social justice are used for promoting both, inclusion and exclusion of people in social categories. The ethos of citizenship is lost in minority-majority segregation. It is in this scenario where there is a lack of quality education and adequate number of schools and colleges that private educational institutions have been established by educationists, philanthropists and religious and linguistic minorities. After the judgment in T.M.A. Pai Foundation v. State of Karnataka dated October 31, 2002 various State governments and educational institutions understood the majority judgment in different perspectives which led to further litigation. This paper mainly deals with the role of the Supreme Court in interpreting the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions, particularly after the T.M.A Pai Foundation case. This paper mainly emphasizes on the four leading judgments of the Supreme Court i.e., Islamic Academy of Education Case (2003), P. A. Inamdar Case (2005), Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan Case (2012), and Pramati Educational & Cultural Trust Case (2014).

Keywords: Minority, Establish, Administer, Supreme Court, Constitution