Study Guide · Chapter 13
Articles 29–30
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- Art. 29 — Protection of interests of minorities. Any section of citizens with a distinct language, script or culture has the right to conserve it. Clause (2) separately bars denial of admission to any State-maintained or State-aided educational institution on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language, or any of them. Despite its heading, Article 29 is not restricted to religious or linguistic "minorities" in the numerical sense — any section of citizens, majority or minority, with a distinct culture can invoke it.
- Art. 30 — Right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. All minorities, whether based on religion or language, have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. Clause (1A) (added by the 44th Amendment) protects such institutions' right to fair compensation if their property is compulsorily acquired. Clause (2) bars the State from discriminating against minority institutions in granting aid, merely because they are minority-run. This article has generated extensive litigation over how much regulation (of admissions, fee structures, staff appointments) the State can impose on a minority institution without effectively destroying its "minority character" — the touchstone test from T.M.A. Pai Foundation v. State of Karnataka (2002) being that regulation is permissible to ensure educational standards and prevent maladministration, but not so much as to take away the real substance of the right to "establish and administer".
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