Lieutenant Common Zameer Uddin Shah, who served for 40 years within the Military and retired as Deputy Chief, went on to develop into the Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim College in 2013. He held the publish until 2017.
Lt Gen Shah speaks to The Indian Categorical in gentle of Friday’s Supreme Courtroom verdict overruling the 1967 verdict that eliminated AMU’s minority tag. The SC stated the ultimate dedication to determine whether or not AMU qualifies as a minority establishment, beneath Article 30 (1) of the Structure, will now be decided by a separate Bench. Edited excerpts:
How do you see the Supreme Courtroom’s order?
It’s a very reasonable and proper order. The 1967 order in opposition to which AMU had appealed made no sense in any respect. We (AMU) weren’t even a celebration to that (1967) case. The judgment had pronounced that AMU was not based by the Muslims of India however by an Act of British Parliament. This may be countered by a comparability. Who received India Independence? It too was actually an act of British Parliament, nevertheless it was our freedom fighters who ensured it. Doesn’t the identical analogy apply within the case of AMU? There was little doubt that AMU was based, established and administered by the Muslims of India.
Do you suppose the judgment will have an effect for different minority establishments?
Loads hinged on at this time’s judgment. The minority standing of establishments would have been threatened. This order is a superb reduction for all of us.
In Friday’s order, the SC stated a contemporary Bench will determine the minority character of AMU. What do you concentrate on the transfer?
Sure, that’s fairly proper. AMU’s attraction was solely in opposition to the 1967 judgment. That has been put aside. I’m sure that the data and documentary proof accessible with AMU can be enough to persuade the contemporary Bench that the MAO (Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental Faculty that was arrange in 1875) was upgraded right into a college (AMU).
All communities did assist (in establishing and establishing the college). However the majority of the massive corpus that needed to be raised and deposited to arrange the college was by the Muslims of India. In actual fact, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (who arrange the school and finally established the college) danced on stage to gather cash. Are you able to imagine it? There was little doubt that the key chunk of the cash got here from the Muslim neighborhood.
Do you suppose this problem goes to linger?
I hope it doesn’t. After I was the Vice-Chancellor, we spent a substantial quantity of money and time paying attorneys to combat for us. I hope it’s settled on the earliest. My message to the neighborhood is that AMU has at all times been a beacon for us. It’s time to make extra such beacons. Why ought to we financial institution solely on one college?
Are you able to inform us about your tenure as V-C and the way the case had impacted the varsity’s functioning?
There isn’t a denying that AMU has been the coaching floor for Muslim intellectuals. I imply anybody you discover doing properly in society is an AMU product as a result of it was the one college on the time. Now, the Muslim neighborhood just isn’t in a position to ship its youngsters to establishments of upper studying as a result of it’s so costly. I simply noticed at this time that the engineering school (of AMU) has been ranked primary on the earth as a result of it solely costs Rs 60,000 a yr.
You possibly can evaluate that to the IITs. AMU has completed an awesome deal for training – and never just for Muslims. Sure, Muslims are a majority in AMU. That’s as a result of programs like Urdu, Arabic, Islamic research are solely taken up by Muslims. However profession programs – similar to administration and medication – have equal variety of Muslims and different communities.
Throughout the listening to of the case within the apex courtroom, the Central authorities opposed the minority standing of AMU. What do you concentrate on it?
As soon as the federal government takes a place (talking in regards to the UPA authorities’s stand), I believe the succeeding governments ought to take the identical place. Why ought to they do a summersault? The prerogative was theirs. Governments change however nationwide insurance policies ought to stay the identical.
