GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court on Friday upheld the Assam Repealing Act of 2020 that repealed the Madrassa Education Provincialisation Act.
The state assembly had in 2020 passed the Assam Repealing Act of 2020 to convert the state-funded Madrassas into general schools.
Dismissing a writ petition, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Soumitra Saikia said the claim of the 13 petitioners that the state-funded Madrassas are minority institutions and were established and administered by the minority had no foundation and as such, unacceptable.
“The Madrasas in question, which are wholly maintained out of State funds, cannot impart religious instructions in terms of the mandate of Article 28(1) of the Constitution of India,” the court observed.
Advocate General Debajit Saikia had submitted to the court that the changes effected by the state government affected only the state-funded provincialised Madrasas. He had argued that the new law had no bearing on the functioning of the “Community Madrasas”, “Qawmi Madrasas” or “Maktabs”.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hailed the court’s judgement.
“Division Bench of Hon'ble Gauhati High Court in a landmark judgment delivered today upheld the Act of 2020 to repeal Madrassa Education Provincialisation Acts and also upheld all other notifications to convert 397 provincialised madrassas to general educational institutions,” he tweeted.