Can State-funded Madrasas impart religious education? Allahabad High Court reserves verdict

The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on February 8 reserved its judgment in a plea on whether religious education can be imparted in government funded Madrasas or education boards..The matter was heard by a bench of Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi. The Court was dealing with a writ petition that presented concerns regarding the Madrasa Board and the administration of Madrasas by the Minority Welfare Department involving both the Union of India and the State government..The plea filed by one Anshuman Singh Rathore also challenged the legality of the UP Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004 and certain provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2012.During previous hearings, the High Court had raised inquiries directed at both the Union of India and the State government regarding the rationale behind operating the Madrasa Board under the purview of the Minority Department instead of the Education Department of the state.Further, the Court had expressed apprehensions about potential instances of arbitrary decision-making and stressed the importance of transparency in the management of educational institutions.Advocates Aditya Kumar Tiwari and Ghulam Mohammad Kami appeared for the petitioner.Advocates Afzal Ahmad Siddiqui, Amrendra Nath Tripathi, Anand Dwivedi, Iqbal Ahmad, Mahendra Bahadur Singh, Mohd. Kumail Haider, Sanjeev Singh, Shailendra Singh Rajawat, Sudhanshu Chauhan, Syed Husain and Vikas Singh appeared for respondents..Last year, in March a bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh (now a judge in Kerala High Court) while hearing a plea by one Azaj Ahamad, had sought responses from the Central and State government on whether religious education can be imparted in government-funded Madrasas and whether the same would amount to violation of Articles 14, 25, 26, 29, and 30 of the Constitution of India.That matter is still pending before the Court.[Read Order]