One Year of the AMU Judgment: A six-decade old question and an incomplete answer
The 7-judge bench decision did not truly resolve the legal dispute, instead pirouetting around its core, shadowboxing with half-arguments while leaving the heart of the matter suspended in mid-air for a 3-Judge Bench to factually determine.
Aman Alam
8 November 2025
IT HAS BEEN ONE YEAR since the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on Aligarh Muslim University’s (‘AMU’) minority status. Yet the crucial six-decade old question -Whether AMU is a minority institution or not?’ remains unanswered till date.
The judgment doesn’t so much resolve the legal dispute as it does pirouette around its core, shadowboxing with half-arguments while leaving the heart of the matter suspended in mid-air for a 3-Judge Bench to factually determine the minority status of AMU by applying the parameters laid down in the 7-Judge Bench judgment.
However, till date, no such 3-Judge Bench has been constituted to put a quietus to the issue. This essay will focus on two fundamental aspects that have remained unanswered by the Court for decades, whilst also tracing the legislative history of the issue. First, that the AMU Act, 1920 was the legal recognition of the extension of an existing community-led institution (MAO College) and not its creation. Second, the erosion of AMU’s minority character could further marginalise an already under-represented community.
However, till date, no such 3-Judge Bench has been constituted to put a quietus to the issue.
A chequered history of the AMU Act, 1920
AMU originated from the MAO College established in 1875 at Aligarh by the nineteenth century educationist and social reformer Sir Syed Ahmad Khan with the support of the Muslim elite (and some Hindu benefactors as well) and the British Government’s grant. After Sir Syed’s death in 1898, the campaign for the upgradation of the MAO College into a University gained momentum. Aligarh Movement included financial contributions from Muslim nobles, landed gentry (including some Hindus as well), princely rulers and the British Government; culminating into the enactment of AMU Act, 1920 and eventual incorporation of AMU.
Apart from the financial contributions, the campaign also included vehement efforts of the leaders of Aligarh Movement in petitioning the British authorities as well as rallying within the Imperial Legislature.
In 1951, after India became a republic, certain amendments were made to the 1920 Act to bring it in accordance with the Constitution. Primarily, it abolished the condition that only a Muslim could be a Member of the University Court (the general and supreme governing body of AMU) and made it open for all. Secondly, religious instruction was to be imparted only to those who wished to receive it, as provided under Article 28(3) of the Constitution.