Cultural and Educational Rights:

Art. 29 and 30
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
• Art. 29: Protection of interests of minorities
(1)Any section of the citizens residing in the
territory of India or any part thereof having a
distinct language, script or culture of its own shall
have the right to conserve the same.
(2) No citizen shall be denied admission into any
educational institution maintained by the State or
receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only
of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
• Art. 30: Right of minorities to establish and administer
educational institutions
(1)All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall
have the right to establish and administer educational
institutions of their choice.
(1A) In making any law providing for the compulsory acquisition
of any property of an educational institution established and
administered by a minority, referred to in clause ( 1 ), the State
shall ensure that the amount fixed by or determined under
such law for the acquisition of such property is such as would
not restrict or abrogate the right guaranteed under that clause
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
(2)The state shall not, in granting aid to
educational institutions, discriminate against
any educational institution on the ground that
it is under the management of a minority,
whether based on religion or language
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
• Art. 27 of ICCPR, 1966 provides that, “in those
states in which ethnic, religious or linguistic
minorities exist, persons belonging to such
minorities shall not be denied the right, in
community with other members of their
group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess
and practice their own religion, or to use their
own language.”
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
• The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural
Diversity of November 2, 2001 declares that
culture encompasses: “the set of distinctive
spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional
features of society or a social group, and that
it encompasses, in addition to art and
literature, lifestyles, ways of living together,
value system s, traditions and beliefs.”
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
• Admission Procedure in Minority Educational Institution
 In St. Stephen’s College v. University of Delhi, (1992) 1 SCC
558, the preference is given to Christian students by
St.Stephen’s College was challenged.
- Held that the college is not bound to follow the university
circulars as it will deprive the college of their minority
character.
- The court decided the two categories for the selection process:
Category I – 50% of the seats reserved for the minority
community.
Category II – remaining 50% are selected on the basis of merit.
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
 In T.M.A Pai Foundation v. State of Karnataka, AIR 2003 SC
355,  it was held that a minority institution may have its own
procedure and method of admission as well as selection of
students, but such a procedure must be fair and transparent,
and the selection of students in professional and higher
education colleges should be on the basis of merit.
- The procedure adopted or selection made should not
tantamount to maladministration.
- Even an unaided minority institution ought not to ignore the
merit of the students to the colleges aforesaid, as in that
event, the institution will fail to achieve excellence”.
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
• Role of National Commission for Minority
Educational Institution – A boon for minority
educational institution
- The National Commission for Minority
Educational Institution has the original
jurisdiction to determine the minority status
of any educational institution as held by the
Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
• National Minority Commission
- To preserve secular traditions and to promote
National Integration the Government of India
attaches the highest importance to the
enforcement of the safeguards provided for
the Minorities.
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
 P.A. Inamdar & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra,
(2005) 6 SCC 537
 Issues
1. Is there a fundamental right to set up
educational institutions?
2. Does Unni Krishnan require reconsideration?
3. In case of private institutions, can there be
government regulations and, if so, to what
extent?
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
• Held that
- The policy of reservation cannot be enforced by
the state nor can a quota or percentage of
admissions be carved out to be appropriated by
the state.
- A common entrance test can be held by a
group of similarly placed institutions provided
that it is fair, transparent, and non-exploitative.
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
- Every institution is free to devise its own fee structure
subject to the limitation that there can be no profiteering
and no capitation fee can be charged directly or indirectly, or
in any form. NRI seats are permissible to the extent of 15 per
cent in all institutions.
- The two committees for monitoring admission
procedure and determining fee structure under the judgment
of Islamic Academy are permissible as regulatory measures.
- In the absence of any central legislation, it is for the central
and state governments to come out with a detailed, well-
thought-out legislation on the subject.
 Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
• Bal Patil v. Union of India, AIR 2005 SC 3172
- Minority refers to identifiable group of people
or of community who deserve protection
from the likely deprivation of their religious,
cultural and educational rights by other
communities who happen to be majority and
likely to gain political power in a democratic
form of government based on election.
Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
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Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
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Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
30
Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
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Cultural and Educational Rights: Art. 29 and
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