Committed to providing quality education to Muslim youths through madrasas, says UP minister day after SC verdict

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Minority Welfare Danish Azad Ansari on Tuesday said the state government is committed to providing quality education to Muslim youths through madrasas with complete sincerity.

Ansari is also the MoS of Muslim Waqf and Haj in the Yogi Adityanath government.

His remark came after the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the 2004 Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education Law and set aside an Allahabad High Court verdict quashing it on the grounds that it was violative of the principle of secularism.

"The Supreme Court decision regarding madrasas in Uttar Pradesh will be addressed by the Adityanath government with positive steps necessary in line with the ruling," Ansari said.

"Improving madrasa education has always been a priority for the Adityanath administration. We are committed to providing quality education to Muslim youth through madrasas with complete sincerity," he added.

Earlier in the day, in a majority 7:2 ruling, the Supreme Court held that states are not empowered under the Constitution to take over all privately-owned resources for distribution to serve the "common good".

The significant ruling, which overturned an Allahabad High Court decision, would benefit over 17 lakh students studying in over 16,000 madrasas recognised by the UP Board of Madrasa education under the state law.

The high court had asked for the closure of such institutions and directed the state government to accommodate students in a formal schooling system.

The top court said a statute could be declared ultra vires on two grounds -- being beyond the ambit of the legislative competence or violating fundamental rights or any other Constitutional provision.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra therefore set aside the high court verdict quashing the 2004 law.