The top court in a southern Indian state has ruled that education institutions of minorities, including Christians, do not have to implement reservation quotas, which are part of the country’s affirmative action program.
In its order,  the Madras High Court in Tamil Nadu said that the government cannot compel educational institutions run by religious and linguistic minorities to provide the reservation quotas.
The quota system, commonly called “reservation” in India, is a means of compensation to address the historic oppression, inequality, and discrimination faced by some communities like the Dalits or former untouchables and tribal people among others, as promised by the constitution.
India recognizes Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians (Parsis) as religious minority groups. They can run educational institutions of their choice with financial aid from the government but without interference under Article 30 of the constitution.
“We have no hesitation to hold that the concept of communal reservation or reservation for Scheduled Castes [Dalits], Scheduled Tribes [tribal people] and Other Backward Classes of citizens would not apply to minority institutions,” Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu said in their Sept. 29 order.
The court upheld the right of minority institutions to admit students from religious and linguistic minorities up to 50 % of the sanctioned intake.
The judges ruled the government had no right to restrict the minority status of an institution to a particular period.
The status, once granted, would continue until the state-run National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions cancels it, they said.