HC: Law of land same for minority institutions

THE ALLAHABAD HC has ruled that the law of the land, including rules and regulations, must equally apply to the majority institutions as well to the minority institutions. Justice SN Srivastava, while allowing a writ petition filed by Hena Farheen, said the argument on behalf of the respondent minority college that the college was competent to take a policy decision, independent of rules which was being followed by the other colleges governed by the Intermediate Education Act .

THE ALLAHABAD High Court has ruled that the law of the land, including rules and regulations, must equally apply to the majority institutions as well to the minority institutions.

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Justice SN Srivastava, while allowing a writ petition filed by Hena Farheen, said the argument on behalf of the respondent minority college that the college (Saint Anthony Girls’ Inter College, Allahabad) was competent to take a policy decision, independent of rules which was being followed by the other colleges governed by the Intermediate Education Act merely on the ground that it was a recognised minority institution, could not be sustained.

Thus the court held that the policy decision of the college that unless a student took maths as one of the subjects in high school, she was not entitled to opt for a subject of the science stream at the Intermediate level was highly arbitrary.

The petitioner had moved the court against the order of principal of Saint Anthony Girls Inter College, by which she was denied admission to class XI
with biology group i.e. physics, chemistry and biology, as she had not passed high school with maths as a subject.

Quoting a judgment of the apex court given in the case of TMA Pai, the High Court said the essence of Article 30(1) of the Constitution was to ensure equal treatment of the majority and the minority institutions.