Article 29: Full Summary with Important cases
Published on: 1 July , 2020
Article 29: Original Text
Protection of interests of minorities –
1 Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having 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.
1 Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having 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.
Article 29: Infographics
Article 29: Introduction
This is the first Article of Cultural and Educational Rights (Article 29- 30) which is given in our Constitution. This Article is applied to the citizens of the country. This means that foreigners or outsiders cannot claim the rights given under this article.
Article 29 Clause 1: Right to conserve the Language, Script or Culture
This clause is saying that any section of the people of this country who are living in this country shall have the full right to preserve their language, script and culture. Following conditions must be satisfied to implement this clause:
- The person must be a citizen of India.
- The citizen must be residing in the country.
- That section of a citizen must have a distinct language, script or culture.
The power given under clause 1 of this article can also be exercised by setting up educational institutions and teaching own distinct language or culture in it.
In the case of D.A.V. College, Jalandhar v. the State of Punjab, AIR 1971, and the Supreme Court said that setting up of University and teaching Punjabi language in it is not infringing the clause 1 of Article 29.
In the case of D.A.V. College, Jalandhar v. the State of Punjab, AIR 1971, and the Supreme Court said that setting up of University and teaching Punjabi language in it is not infringing the clause 1 of Article 29.
Article 29 Clause 2: Right of a Citizen to admission to Educational Institutions
This clause will only apply when the discrimination is based on religion, race, caste, language or any of them. When there is discrimination in admission based on something else then this clause won’t be applied. For example when the discrimination is based on domicile, then there won’t be any infringement of this clause.
This clause will also not apply to the educational institutions which are getting no grants from the State.
This clause will also not apply to the educational institutions which are getting no grants from the State.
What is the difference between Article 15 (1) and 29 (2)?
Both of these articles prohibit discrimination against the citizens but there are some major differences between them:
- Article 15 (1) is applied only on the educational institutions which are made by the State. On the other hand, Article 29 (2) is applied to the educational institutions by the State as well as on the Private educational institutions which are getting paid from the State.
- Article 15(1) protects against all kinds of discrimination while Article 29 (1) is protecting only against the denial of admission in the educational institutions which are getting aid or are maintained by the State.
- Article 15 (1) is wider in operation as compared to Article 29 (1). As there are more types of discrimination covered under Article 15 like the discrimination based on sex and place of birth.
Important cases of Article 29
In this case, the validity of the admission process of the St. Stephen’s College in Delhi was challenged on the basis that it is giving undue preference to the Christian students. The University of Delhi issues a circular saying that the admission process will be based on the qualifying marks of the previous school examination. But the St. Stephen’s College said that its admission will be based on an interview of the students. Due to this issue, the St. Stephen College went to Supreme Court saying that its right to manage their college is violated under Article 30 of the Constitution.
So the court gave the decision that the college is a minority-run institution. So it is not bound to follow the directions of the University of Delhi. Later in the case of T.M.A. Pai Foundation, it was said that this right to admission of minorities is up to a limit of 50% of total seats.
The court said that it is the right of minorities to establish educational institutions to save their language, script and culture.
The court said that it is the right of minorities to establish educational institutions to save their language, script and culture.
