Madrasas Can Now Function In UP, SC Upholds Constitutional Validity Of 2004 Act

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New Delhi: In a big relief to about 16,000-odd madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the constitutional validity of Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004 (Madarsa Act) that regulates their functioning. A three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, has set aside an Allahabad High Court judgment that had previously declared the law to be ‘unconstitutional.’

The HC had observed that the law was violative of the principle of secularism. It had also asked the state government of Uttar Pradesh to accommodate madrasa students in the formal schooling system.

The Madarsa Act provides the legal framework for madarsa education. Apart from the curriculum of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), religious education is imparted at the madrasas.

According to the 2024 law, the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education mainly comprises members of the Muslim community. The Uttar Pradesh government had told the Supreme Court bench that the law is constitutional. It had submitted that the Act needed not have been struck down in entirety, but the offending provisions needed examination.

“The state does have a vital interest even in ensuring standards in places of religious instruction. You interpret it that way. But to throw out the Act is to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” said the CJI, as quoted by the Indian Express.

The SC had also noted that provisions which empowers the board to give degrees like Kamil, Fazil etc may be in conflict with the provisions of The University Grants Commission Act’, 1956.