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The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Union of India and the State of Uttar Pradesh on a petition seeking authorisation for Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Language University, Lucknow, to conduct exams and grant degrees to students for ‘Kamil’ (Graduation) and ‘Fazil’ (Post-Graduation) courses pursued through recognized Madarsas across the state.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai, Justice AG Masih and Justice AS Chandurkar sought response from the respondents and tagged the matter with a similar pending petition titled Mohd Laman Raza & Others vs Union of India & Others.
The top court of the country passed the order on a petition filed by Teachers Association Madaris Arabia and Haji Diwan Saheb Zama, contending that approximately 50,000 students pursuing these traditional Islamic higher education degrees currently faced academic limbo.
The petitioners sought urgent intervention of the Apex Court in light of a legal vacuum created after ts verdict in the Anjum Kadari vs Union of India & Ors case.
The Apex Court had declared in the judgment that the UP Madarsa Education Board could not legally confer higher education degrees, specifically Fazil (postgraduate) and Kamil (graduate), as it lacked the authority under the University Grants Commission Act, 1956.
While upholding the constitutional validity of the Madarsa Education Act for lower-level education, the top court of the country held that regulation and awarding of higher education degrees like Fazil and Kamil fell exclusively under the domain of the UGC and universities recognised under Section 22 of the UGC Act.
The Madarsa Board issued a letter on January 16, 2025, effectively halting the operation of these courses across the State, affecting nearly 50,000 students.
The petitioners contended that 50,000 students were currently pursuing such higher degree courses as well as the ‘Alim’ (Senior Secondary) course. These students would be displaced without any recourse, leading to the violation of their fundamental rights enjoined under Article 14, 19(1)(g), 21, 28, and 30 of the Constitution.
In 2014, UGC formally recognized Fazil and Kamil as valid academic degrees provided they were conferred by a recognised university. Drawing from this, the petition proposed a practical solution – authorising Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti Language University, which was already established under the state legislation, to take over the role of examining and granting Fazil and Kamil degrees.
The plea submitted that despite several communications between the Madarsa Education Board, the Uttar Pradesh government and the University since 2021, including a three-member expert committee formed by the varsity in November 2021 to study the matter, no final action has been taken. The University’s Executive Council had resolved in February 2022 to begin framing regulations for these courses, but in the absence of state authorisation, it could not act independently under the UGC Act, added the petition.
It said such inaction amounted to arbitrariness under Article 14 of the Constitution and violated the rights of students caught in the legal vacuum with no valid degrees despite having undertaken multi-year academic programmes.
The petitioner further contended that the failure to recognise or regularise these courses undermined the rights of religious minorities to administer and access educational institutions of their choice, protected under Article 30.
The petitioners sought direction to the Uttar Pradesh government to act immediately in authorising Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti Language University to conduct examinations, declare results, and confer Fazil & Kamil degrees to students studying in recognised Madarsas.
This article first appeared on India Legal
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