On Friday, the Supreme Court emphasized that India is a secular nation and questioned a public interest plaintiff about his decision to focus on the minority community’s right to education rather than the majority community’s.
Majority Interest Excluded
The Right to Education Act (RTE Act) for notified minorities was being enforced, according to a public interest litigation (PIL) petition before the court. The emphasis cannot be placed just on the minority when it comes to matters like the right to education, according to a bench comprising Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna.
“Why have you only fought for the minority while ignoring the majority? Why have you focused specifically on minorities only? When it is, religion matters. Besides that, we are a secular country “Judge Joseph commented. Therefore, the Court allowed the petitioner the freedom to withdraw the current petition and submit a new one.
Facts of the Case [Md Imran Ahmad and Ors vs Union of India and ors]
The petition, which was created by Negi advocate Nandini Garg and submitted through counsel Ayush Negi, called for the execution of Section 12(1)c of the RTE Act in light of the termination of the minority pre-matric scholarship program. According to the aforementioned provision, non-minority private unaided schools are required to reserve at least 25% of their opening-level seats for children from disadvantaged social groups.
Section 12(1)c applies to all: Adv Negi Submitted
The petitioners criticized the Union Minority Affairs Ministry’s decision to end the program and claimed that the respondents were required to apply the RTE Act due to the financial challenges and detrimental educational effects this decision caused for pupils of the six designated minorities. Advocate Negi asserted at the hearing today that Section 12(1)c applies to everyone and that the petition just calls for its execution.