The AMU’s minority status is sub-judice, the AMU said that would stick to the status quo and it will not admit students through the common entrance test that is to be conducted from the coming academic year.
Whether AMU is a minority institute or not, is sub-judice. Jamia Millia Islamia’s minority status is also sub-judice. Article 30 of the constitution states the right of minority institutes to establish and administer educational institutes.
Article 30 says, “All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.”
The Central Universities – Common Entrance Test (CUCET) is an all-India test is being organized for admission to various Integrated/Under-Graduate, Post Graduate and Research Programmes in several Central Universities and State Universities of India.
From its inception in 2010 till 2020, the CUCET was conducted by the Central University of Rajasthan. The National Testing Agency took over the conduct of these exams in 2021.
As the AMU’s minority status is sub-judice, the university said that would stick to the status quo and it will not admit students through the common entrance test that is to be conducted from the coming academic year.
The Daily Hindustan Times quoted the university spokesperson as saying, “We are pursuing a case in the Supreme Court against an Allahabad High Court judgement rejecting minority status to AMU. The Supreme Court granted the status quo to AMU. The university will maintain the status quo on its admission policy as the case of minority status is sub-judice.”
The spokesperson told the newspaper that the proposal was made before the University’s academic council. It was decided that they would continue with the status quo till the matter is sub-judice.
According to a ministry official, the CUCET will consider the needs of minority institutes. The official said that the ministry had considered the issues of minority institutes when they had reservations when entrance examinations for medical and engineering courses were first introduced. They will do the same with regard to CUCET.
In 2020, UGC set up a seven-member committee headed by R. P. Tiwari to look into the implementation of the same. Presently, the test has two segments, both of which consist of multiple-choice questions (MCQs).
The students’ language, general awareness, mathematical aptitude and analytical skills are evaluated in the first part of the tests. The second part tests the knowledge of the subject matter.
CUCET was first conducted to admission for seven central universities for 1,500 seats in 41 undergraduate, postgraduate and integrated courses from 2010.
The application form was filled up through CUCET-2010 which was held on 19 and 20 June 2010 in about 30 examination centres spread across the country.