Indian Constitution has provisions of fundamental right from article 12 to 35. Part-3 of the constitution talks about the fundamental rights given to the citizens of the country. In this article, we have explained the constitutional provisions of article 30.
The right conferred to minority communities under Article 30 is only to ensure equality with the majority and not intended to place the minorities in a more advantageous position.
Article 30 of the Indian constitution grants many rights to the religious or linguistic minorities in the country. Some social media posts are creating confusion about the provisions of this article.
These posts claim that article 30A prohibits the teachings of Bhagvat Gita, Vedas and Puranas in the Indian schools while article 30 allows the teaching of the Quran, the Hadis in the Madarsa.
We read the Constitution of India for this investigation, we found that there is no article in the Constitution named '30A'. As far as article 30 is concerned, this article is about the right of minorities to establish and run educational institutions.
The term ‘minority’ is not clarified in the Indian constitution. According to the Gazette of India of 27 January 2014, people of Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Parsi, and Jainism have got minority community status in India.
Now let us have a look at the provisions of article 30 of the Indian constitution:-
ARTICLE 30: Right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions in the country.
(1) All minorities (religion or language) shall have the right to administer and establish educational institutions of their choice in the country.
(1A) While making any law providing for the compulsory acquisition of any property of an educational institution established and administered by a minority, the State shall ensure that the amount fixed for the acquisition of such property under such law would not restrict or abrogate the right guaranteed to them.
(2) The State shall not discriminate against any educational institution managed by a minority in granting aid.
The protection given under Article 30 is limited only to minorities and does not extend to any section of citizens.
Article 30 also empowers the minority community to impart education to its children in its own language.
There are three types of Minority educational institutions;
(a) Institutions that demand recognition as well as aid from the State;
(b) Institutions that demand only recognition from the State and not aid; and
(c) Institutions that neither demand recognition nor aid from the State.
Explanation of the above three is;
The institutions of a and b type are bound to follow the rules made by the states. These regulations are related to academic standards, syllabus, employment of teaching staff, discipline, and sanitation etc.
On the other hand, the third types of institutions are free to administer their rules but they also have to follow general laws like labour law, contract law, industrial law, tax law, economic regulations, and so on.
It does not mean that the third type/unaided of minority institutions will not follow the eligibility criteria/qualifications prescribed by the State. These institutions will have the freedom to appoint teachers/lecturers only by adopting a rational procedure.
Article 29 is related to the Protection of language, script, and culture of minorities.
Supreme Court decision of article 30:-
In a judgment delivered in the Secretary of Malankara Syrian Catholic College case (2007), the Honourable Supreme Court said that
The right conferred to minority communities under Article 30 is only to ensure equality with the majority and not intended to place the minorities in a more advantageous position.
There is no evidence of unconstitutional favour of minorities regarding the general laws of the land relating to national security, national interest, public order, social welfare, taxation, health, sanitation, and morality, etc., applicable to all, will equally apply to minority institutions also.
So it is found that no article 30A exists in the Indian Constitution and the social media posts are totally baseless. This seems a conspiracy to defame the holy Indian Constitution.
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