UP Board of Madrasa Education Act declared ‘unconstitutional’ by Allahabad HC.
On 22 March, the Uttar Pradesh Madrassa Education Board Act, 2004, declared “unconstitutional” and a violation of the principle of secularism by the Allahabad High Court.
The Allahabad High Court asked the state government to accommodate the current students in the formal schooling system.
On a writ petition filed by a person named Anshuman Singh Rathore, the division bench of Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi of the Lucknow bench of the court declared the law ultra vires.
Petitioner objected to the fact that Madrasas are managed by the Minority Welfare Department instead of the Education Department.
The petitioner submitted that the Madarsa Act violates the principles of secularism, which is the basic structure of the Constitution and fails to provide quality compulsory education up to the age of 14 years/Class-VIII as mandated under Article 21-A.
They fail to provide universal and quality school education to all the children studying in Madarsa.
There are approximately 25,000 madrassas in Uttar Pradesh of which 16,500 are recognized by the Uttar Pradesh Madrassa Education Board.
Of these, 560 madrassas receive grants from the government. Besides, there are 8,500 unrecognized madrassas in the state.
