Supreme Court stays High Court order striking down law regulating U.P. madrasas

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CategoryPolity

Last Updated08/04/2024

The Supreme Court recently stayed the operation of an Allahabad High Court judgment which struck down a 20-year-old Uttar Pradesh law regulating madrasas and ordered the transfer of their students to regular schools.

A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India decided to freeze the implementation of the High Court judgment of March 22 in an interim order
- Even as the Uttar Pradesh government said it had learnt to “accept” the verdict.
The State claimed to have fought tooth and nail for the survival of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education Act, 2004 in the High Court.
However, it has now reconciled to the High Court’s point of view that the Act threatened the principles of secularism and was violative of the Basic Structure of the Constitution.
“The remedy would not be to strike down the Madrasa Board Act
- But to issue suitable directions to enable students pursuing their education in madrasas to access the quality of education made available by the State in other institutions,” Chief Justice dictated in the order for the Bench.

The Act aimed to regulate and govern the functioning of madrasas (Islamic educational institutions) in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
It provided a framework for the establishment, recognition, curriculum, and administration of madrasas across Uttar Pradesh.
Under this Act, the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education was established to oversee and supervise the activities of madrasas in the state.