A division bench responded thus to three petitions filed by managements of two minority institutions: Karuna Medical College and Travancore Medical College; also students.
The right of minority communities to establish and run educational institutions as per Article 30 (1) of the Constitution includes the freedom of choice of candidates, the petitioners argued.
However, the court disproved the claim saying that the term “minority’ means a community notified as such by the central government as per section 2(c) of National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
The court said that since Muslims have been classified as per the government’s notification as one of the minorities, no sub-sect or denomination within the community finds a place in the notification, according to a report in The Times of India.