India

Court relief to India’s minority institutions

Madras High Court in southern Tamil Nadu bans government from imposing education quotas

Two girls pass by the gate of St. Columba's School established by Irish Christian Brothers in 1941 in India's national capital New Delhi. Under Indian constitution, religious minority groups are allowed to run education institutions of their choice without government interference. (Photo: Bijay Kumar Minj/UCA News)

By UCA News reporter

Published: October 04, 2023 12:07 PM GMT

Updated: October 05, 2023 04:36 AM GMT

The top court in a southern Indian state has ruled that education institutions of minorities, including Christians, do not have to implement reservation quotas, which are part of the country's affirmative action program.

In its order, the Madras High Court in Tamil Nadu said that the government cannot compel educational institutions run by religious and linguistic minorities to provide the reservation quotas.

The quota system, commonly called "reservation" in India, is a means of compensation to address the historic oppression, inequality, and discrimination faced by some communities like the Dalits or former untouchables and tribal people among others, as promised by the constitution.

India recognizes Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians (Parsis) as religious minority groups. They can run educational institutions of their choice with financial aid from the government but without interference under Article 30 of the constitution.

“We have no hesitation to hold that the concept of communal reservation or reservation for Scheduled Castes [Dalits], Scheduled Tribes [tribal people] and Other Backward Classes of citizens would not apply to minority institutions,” Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu said in their Sept. 29 order.

The court upheld the right of minority institutions to admit students from religious and linguistic minorities up to 50 percent of the sanctioned intake.

The judges ruled the government had no right to restrict the minority status of an institution to a particular period.

The status, once granted, would continue until the state-run National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions cancels it, they said.

The order came in response to a petition by the Chennai-based Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed College for Women, belonging to the Muslim community.

The college challenged the government order, dismissing its plea for an extension of minority status.

The Church runs nearly 15,000 colleges and schools in India and has not officially responded to the court order.

According to Catholic educators, the order will protect minority institutions from unwarranted government harassment and interference.

The Church officials or bishops' forums have not officially responded to the verdict.

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6 Comments on this Story

ISAAC GOMES

However, the words “up to" in this phrase being very cleverly manipulated by Christian Minority Institutions. At least this phenomenon is evident in the institutions, especially those of higher education, in Archdiocese of Calcutta. Instead of making a sincere effort to fill up seats first with Christian students (up to 50%), they take more than ninety per cent students from other communities. The Christian students are less than ten per cent in these institutions which were founded primarily for the educational and through it, social uplift of Christian students. This unhealthy student ratio of <10:>90 (Christian vis-vis non-Christians students) has a direct relation to leadership building. It is much worse in Church-run colleges and the only Church-run University in Kolkata where very high marks and exorbitant fees create an entry barrier for Christian students from poor financial backgrounds. They are eliminated at the entry gate itself. None of the Church-run educational institute is publishing (or willing to give) stream-wise and class-wise data of Christian students. On top of it when many Christian students drop out, their seats are given to students from other communities. Whom are we serving? Christ or mammon? We cannot serve both. Today our Christian Minority institutions are making a mass-production of leaders (politicians, corporate leaders and professionals in Judiciary, Finance, Management, etc) from other communities and hardly any Christian leaders worth the name due to very low intake of Christian students. Only Scottish Church College of Kolkata officially (on website) reserves thirty per cent quota for Christian students. No other church-run school or college or university reserves seats for Christian students. The result of this is we are witnessing cases like Fr Stan's death for lack of top-notch legal brains from the Christian community. While our Christian Minority institutions may be very happy with the Court's decision, they need to do serious introspection on how they are serving their own community. Jesus would have asked them: "Quo Vadis?"

ISAAC GOMES

The court upheld the right of minority institutions to admit students from religious and linguistic minorities up to fifty per cent of the sanctioned intake. Here the key phrase is “fifty per cent of the sanctioned intake.” However, the words “up to" in this phrase being very cleverly manipulated by Christian Minority Institutions. At least this phenomenon is evident in the institutions, especially those of higher education, in Archdiocese of Calcutta. Instead of making a sincere effort to fill up seats first with Christian students (up to 50%), they take more than ninety per cent students from other communities. The Christian students are less than ten per cent in these institutions which were founded primarily for the educational and through it, social uplift of Christian students. This unhealthy student ratio of <10:>90 (Christian vis-vis non-Christians students) has a direct relation to leadership building. It is much worse in Church-run colleges and the only Church-run University in Kolkata where very high marks and exorbitant fees create an entry barrier for Christian students from poor financial backgrounds. They are eliminated at the entry gate itself. None of the Church-run educational institute is publishing (or willing to give) stream-wise and class-wise data of Christian students. On top of it when many Christian students drop out, their seats are given to students from other communities. Whom are we serving? Christ or mammon? We cannot serve both. Today our Christian Minority institutions are making a mass-production of leaders (politicians, corporate leaders and professionals in Judiciary, Finance, Management, etc) from other communities and hardly any Christian leaders worth the name due to very low intake of Christian students. Only Scottish Church College of Kolkata officially (on website) reserves thirty per cent quota for Christian students. No other church-run school or college or university reserves seats for Christian students. The result of this is we are witnessing cases like Fr Stan's death for lack of top-notch legal brains from the Christian community. While our Christian Minority institutions may be very happy with the Court's decision, they need to do serious introspection on how they are serving their own community. Jesus would have asked them: "Quo Vadis?"

JOHN MASCARENHAS

@issac gomes: it is SHOCKING TO LEARN that christian run educational institutions in calcutta ARE NOT RESERVING 50% SEATS FOR CHRISTIANS! why do christians offer donations to the churches? WHO BENEFITS FROM THESE DONATIONS? WILL THE BISHOP OF CALCUTTA AND ALL BISHOPS IN INDIA LOOK INTO THESE SCAMS??? OR WILL A CHRISTIAN LAWYER TAKE THIS MATTER TO COURT TO FIGHT FOR OUR CHRISTIAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS THAT ARE DEPRIVED STUDYING AT CHRISTIAN RUN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS..... THAT ARE CHURCH FUNDED FROM CHRISTIAN DONATIONS?

JOSEPH RODRICK

You are spot on. Christian institutions failed Christian community miserably and there is no admission of their fault. They never think they are at fault and hence no room for mistake correction. Shame on our Christian institutions' deliberate neglect of Christian students.

ISAAC GOMES

The first paragraph of my comments are: The court upheld the right of minority institutions to admit students from religious and linguistic minorities up to fifty per cent of the sanctioned intake. Here the key phrase is “fifty per cent of the sanctioned intake.”

ISAAC GOMES

@John Mascarenhas You are dead right. Some Christian lawyer should take up the case for the abysmally low percentage of admission given to Christian students in Church-run institutions (Colleges & University) in the Archdiocese of Calcutta. But where do we get top-notch Christian lawyers? The low intake of Christian students (below 10%) ensures that there are hardly any Christians in the legal and other professional fields. A classic example is my friend's (a senior Catholic school teacher) daughter. Last year she had applied to St Xavier's University Kolkata (the only Catholic University in Kolkata) for the 5-year BA.LLB. Course. She had secured 80%+ marks in her ISC exams. But she did not get admission into the course. My friend, unlike many other Catholics, was ready to pay the full fees of 10+ Lakh. When he requested permission to see the Vice-Chancellor, one of secretaries asked him "Give me one reason, why your daughter should get a chance in our University?" Similarly my son too did not get admission into St Xavier's College in the Economics (Hons) stream despite getting aggregate 85% marks (90 in English and 90 in Economics) in ISC and undergoing the mandatory pre-admission Mathematics class for one month. The system of the college is so opaque that he was not even shown the marks of his Maths (in which he is pretty good) exam! He was shell-shocked at not seeing his name on the list of selected candidates. He easily got chance in Scottish Church College (which unlike St Xavier's, reserves 30% seats for Christian students). The moot point is who won and who lost? Thanks to the blunt and opaque admission procedure of SXC, two Catholic souls were lost. If my friend's daughter becomes a lawyer, will she ever take up cases for the Church?