Allahabad High Court Declares UP Board Of Madarsa Education Act 2004 As 'Unconstitutional'

The Allahabad High Court on Friday declared the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004, "unconstitutional" and violative of the principle of secularism.

Students studying in Madarsa. (Representative Image) ( Image Source :Getty )

Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court on Friday declared the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004, "unconstitutional" and violative of the principle of secularism, and asked the state government to accommodate current students in the formal schooling system. High court decission has come in a writ petition lodged by Anshuman Singh Rathore, contesting the legality of the UP Madarsa board and raising objections to the supervision of Madarsas by Minority Welfare Department, both by Union of India and State Government.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has declared the 'UP Board of Madarsa Education Act 2004' as unconstitutional, saying that it violates the principles of secularism.

— ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2024

In December 2023, the division bench expressed concerns about potential arbitrariness and the need for transparency in the administration of educational institutions. This highlighted the broader issue that whether such decission alligns with principles of equal opportunity and secular governance.

A division bench comprising Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi of the Lucknow branch of the court declared the law ultra vires on a writ petition filed by a person named Anshuman Singh Rathore, as reported by news agency PTI. Rathore had challenged the constitutionality of the UP Madarsa Board as well as objected to the management of madarsa by the Minority Welfare department, both by Union of India and the state government. 

As reported by Live Law, the High Court in 2019 referred certain important questions surrounding the concerns of the functions and structures of Madarsa board to a Larger Bench (Writ Petition No.29324 (S/S) of 2019: Mohammad Javed Vs. State of U.P. and others).

The Act allows madarsas to operate under the state minority welfare ministry raising concerns about its fairness compared to other Educational Institutions such asaffiliated with minority communities like Jains, Sikhs, Christians etc, are run under the education ministry.