Photo Credit: The Indian Express


The Allahabad High Court has invalidated the UP Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004, deeming it “unconstitutional” due to its infringement upon the principle of secularism.

A division bench comprising Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Subhash Vidyarthi has instructed the state government to integrate madrasa students into the formal education system.

 This directive from the Lucknow bench follows a petition filed by Anshuman Singh Rathore, contesting the governance of the UP-Madrasa board and its oversight by the minority welfare department. A comprehensive judgment on the matter is anticipated.

This decision follows months after the UP-government’s initiative to survey Islamic educational institutions in the state. Additionally, the government established a Special Investigating Team (SIT) in October last year to investigate the foreign funding received by Madrasas.

In prior hearings, the high court had posed questions to both the Union of India and the state government regarding the reasoning behind the Madarsa Board’s administration falling under the jurisdiction of the minority department instead of the state’s education department.

The legislation mandates madrasas to operate under the auspices of the state’s minority welfare ministry. This prompts inquiry into the potential arbitrariness of subjecting madrasa education to oversight by the minority welfare department while educational institutions of other minority communities such as Jains, Sikhs, Christians, etc., are overseen by the education ministry.