‘Why Only Sunnis, Admit All Muslims’: Karnataka HC To Minority-Run Private Medical College 

The Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition filed by Kanachur Islamic Educational Trust, which pleaded the court to direct the state government to allot seats only to Sunni Muslims in its medical institute, The New Indian Express has reported.

A division bench comprising Justice A S Bopanna and Justice Mohammad Nawaz said, “If this is allowed in every such minority institution, the entire process of admission would be affected.”

The petition contended the government order dated 4 July which had rejected the plea of the trust. The plea was regarding reserving 82 seats out of 150 seats only for Sunni Muslims. The court also focused on merit of a Non-Sunni Muslim candidate who had a higher rank than a Sunni candidate and said that the former cannot be denied admission. The court also said that the court’s order will not in any way affect the minority rights enshrined in Article 30(1) of the constitution.

The court also cited the supplementary Trust deed dated 1 August 2015 which stated that the objective of the petitioners was “to establish run and administer educational institutions primarily for the benefit of Muslim community and also society at large.” The court concluded that the institution was for the welfare of the Muslim community as a whole and not just limited to Sunni sect.