AMU observes token silence

Aligarh Muslim University on Saturday observed a token strike called by the Teachers' Association, non-teaching associations and its students' union to press for amending the Constitution to restore the minority status of the institution.

Barring emergency services, all activities were suspended at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in response to a call by the Junior Doctors Organisation, an AMU statement said in Aligarh.

A division bench of the Allahabad High Court quashed the minority status of AMU after ruling that the Parliament had no jurisdiction to restore it through the AMU Amendment Act, 1981.

The statement said the lawmaking power of Parliament was well known and the verdict holding that it had no jurisdiction to "make such changes in 1981 has once more brought to the fore the jurisdictional conflict between the Parliament and the judiciary."

It said the AMU community was of the opinion feels that "such a race for ascendancy" was not good for the country and expressed the hope that the Parliament would be able to defend its powers as "the supreme lawmaker" of the country.