The Role of State Constitutions in Protecting ... - International IDEA

(e) Similarly, in the matter of the right to establish an institution in
relation by the State, though there is no constitutional or other right for
an institution to receive State recognition and though the State is entitled
to impose reasonable conditions for receiving state recognition, e.g., as to
qualifications, it cannot impose conditions for acceptance of which
would virtually deprive a minority community of their right guaranteed
by Art. 30 (1). Where, therefore, the state regulations debar scholars of
unrecognized educational institutions from receiving higher education or
from entering into public services, the right to establish an institution
under Art. 30(1) cannot be effectively exercised without obtaining State
recognition that the institution must not receive any fees tuition fees in
the primary classes. For, if there is no provision in the State law or
regulation as to how this financial loss is to be recouped, institutions
solely or primarily dependent upon the fees charged in the primary
classes cannot exist at all.
(f) Minority institutions protected under Art. 30(1) are however, subject
to regulation by the educational authorities of the State to prevent maladministration
and to ensure a proper standard of education. But such
regulation cannot go to the extent of virtually annihilating the right
guaranteed by Art. 30 (1).
Furthermore, the constitution directs every State to provide adequate facilities for
instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education to children
belonging to linguistic minority groups and empowers the President to issue
proper direction to any State in this behalf [Art. 350 A].
Federal division of power
India is a union of states, where the territories of the units of the federation may
be altered or redistributed if the Union Executive and Legislature so desire. In
practice this has been used to reorganize the states on linguistic lines. So, in effect,
the federal design serves as a way to safeguard the interest of linguistic minorities.
Since the commencement of the Constitution, this power has been used by the
Parliament to enact various acts for reorganization of states. Initially, we notice
major reorganization of the boundaries of the different States of India in the
1950s’ by The States Reorganization Act, 1956, in order to meet local and
linguistic demands. The reorganization of States continued and the next major
change was introduced by the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966, by which the
State of Punjab was split up into State of Punjab and Haryana and the Union
territory of Chandigarh. The recent reorganization of States and carving out of
the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal in the year 2000 is a step
further in this direction.
The Indian constitution introduces a federal system as the basic structure of
government of the country, though there is a strong admixture of unitary bias and
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