New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to Assam Government on the plea against the Gauhati High Court verdict upholding a 2020 Assam Assembly law, according to which all state-run madrassas were to be converted into general educational institutions.
A bench comprising justices Ajay Rastogi and CT Ravikumar while hearing a petition moved by 13 people issued the notice, LiveLaw reported.
The petitioner has challenged the verdict given by the Gauhati High Court on February 4, 2022, that upheld the validity of the Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialization) Act, 1995 (repealed by the Act of 2020) and all consequential government orders.
Repelling the contentions of the petitioners, a Division Bench of the High Court led by them Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia had upheld the Assam Repealing Act, 2020 for scrapping the Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation) Act, 1995 and the Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation of Services of Teachers and Reorganisation of Educational Institutions) Act, 2018.
The high court observed that the madrassas being government schools wholly maintained by the state through provincialization are hit by Article 28(1) of the Constitution and as such, cannot be permitted to impart religious instruction.
The petitioners, who include Imad Uddin Barbhuiya, said that high court has erroneously observed that the petitioner madrassas being government schools cannot be permitted to impart religious instruction.