Chief Justice's Court

AFR

Case :- PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL) No. - 61150 of 2014

Petitioner :- Deeksha Dwivedi & 3 Others
Respondent :- Union Of India Thru' Secy. & 2 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Vishal Kashyap,Smriti Kartikeya
Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,Arvind Kumar Goswami,Gyan Prakash,Ikram
Ahmad
Hon'ble Dr. Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud,Chief Justice
Hon'ble Pradeep Kumar Singh Baghel,J.

The petition has been filed in public interest by four students of

Law, two of them from the University of Allahabad, one from Gujarat
National Law University and another from Christ University, Bangalore.
All the students are working as Interns with the Human Rights Law
Network.
Aligarh Muslim University1, which is spread over 467.6 hectares in
the city of Aligarh, offers more than three hundred courses in
conventional and modern branches of education.
The grievance emanates from articles which were published in the
city editions of the Indian Express, The Times of India and The Hindu on
12 November 2014. These news articles attributed to the Vice Chancellor
a decision not to allow access to undergraduate women students to the
main library situated in the campus of the University. The news article in
The Times of India attributes a statement to the Vice Chancellor, the third
respondent, that the main library at the University campus is over
crowded, which led to the decision.
When the Court took up the matter on 14 November 2014, the
1 University

Court observed, prima facie, without expressing a conclusive or final opinion

on the issues raised that any effort to regulate a problem of 'over crowding' in
a campus library would have to be on a gender neutral basis. A breach of
gender neutrality would involve an infraction of constitutional norms in
relation to the guarantees of equality under Article 14 and of gender identity
under Article 15 of the Constitution. Since the petition was based on
newspaper reports, we had considered it appropriate to direct service of the
proceedings on the second and the third respondents. In the meantime, the
Court expected that the second and the third respondents would deal with the
matter as responsible statutory authorities should and resolve an unseemly
controversy having due regard to the letter and spirit of the constitutional
provisions.
In pursuance of the order of the Court dated 14 November 2014,
counsel entered on behalf of the second and the third respondents. A statement
has been handed over to the Court of the position of the second and the third
respondents. For convenience of reference, we reproduce the statement in its
entirety:
It is to clarify that there is no restrictions on entry of girls
studying at AMU main campus to the Maulana Azad Library (MAL).
Total number of female members of the Maulana Azad Library during
the session 2013-14 was 2757.
2.

It is only girls of Women's College, which is located three

kilometres away, who have not been given membership upto academic
session 2013-14 for the following reasons:
(a)

Women's College already has a well stocked library on

their campus (Total number of Volumes 56065 and total number of

Titles 14778). The complete catalogue of Maulana Azad Library is

available on the net and the girls of Women's College can place
demands for books. It is regrettable that the number of demands for
books has been minuscule (From session 2012 to 2014, total number of
demands was only 21 Books.).
(b)

The Maulana Azad Library is always over crowded despite

being open 18 hours from 08:00 am to 02.00 am, seven day a week. It
was constructed when it had to cater for 7000 students. Now the
strength is 28000. There are seven reading Halls having the capacity to
seat 1150 students at a time.
(c)

Safety of girls moving from Women's College to Maulana

Azad Library, especially after dark, is a major security hazard because

lumpen elements of Aligarh city. There have been several cases of chain
snatching and eve teasing. This aspect can be taken care of if the girls
can be conveyed by bus. Unfortunately there was a total ban on
purchase of new vehicles, by Universities, till it was clarified that
replacements for condemned vehicles could be resorted to.
(d)

The Vice-Chancellor on 10 June 2013 had written a

personal letter to each parent of girls studying in Women's College

explaining the situation and asking them if they would take
responsibility for security of their daughters/wards in case they were
permitted to visit the Library. Only one parent gave consent. A copy of
the letter is placed before the Court.
3.

In the current session 2014-15, the following decisions

have been taken by the University on 19 May 2014:

(a)

In place of 2 separate cards, currently being used in the

University for Maulana Azad Library and general use, only single card
with RFID & Bar Coded Enrolment Number will be made for all
students w.e.f. session 2014-15. This will also function as the Library
Card.
(b)

A card will be valid for the whole duration of the course.

All students, both boys and girls will be members of the Mualana
Azad Library by default, from the session 2014-15 once Identity-cumLibrary Card is issued to them. The girl students of the Women's
College will thus become members of Maulana Azad Library.
4.

It is very unfortunate to note that AMU underwent Trial

by Media on an issue of a smile by the Vice Chancellor to

underscore his argument which was wrongly misinterpreted and linked
with issue of Gender bias. In Aligarh Muslim University, we have
been striving for women's empowerment and they enjoy equal status
and facilities, at par with boy students.
5.

There is a pressing requirement for expansion of Maulana

Azad Library to cater for the students of Aligarh Muslim University for
which special allocation of funds are required, the Hon'ble High Court
may direct the Government (Ministry of H.R.D.) to provide special
allocation of funds of Rs.20 crores for this purpose.
6.

The Aligarh Muslim University Women's College was

established in 1936, as a constituent college, located approx. 03 kms

away from main campus. The Women's College is a fully furnished self
contained undergraduate College with its own Library, Laboratories,
Hostels, Hall and Sports facilities etc. The details of the Women's
College Library are as follows:
1. Total No. of Volumes

56,065

2. Total No. of Titles

14,778

3. Total No. of Students (Strength)

2,456

4. Total No. of Students enrolled in Library:

5. Seating Capacity

2,367

200

6. No. of Books borrowed from Maulana

21

Azad Library on request of the students during

sessions 2012 to 2014.
7. Total No. of Reading Rooms in the Hostels:
8. Total No. of Books available in the Reading Rooms:

5
1,863

7.

It may also be noted that all undergraduates of Delhi and

Bombay Universities are debarred from accessing Central Reference

Library or Ratan Tata Library because they have libraries in their own
colleges. Aligarh Muslim University is being treated with a separate
yardstick.
8.

In the light of the above, the news reports as well as the PIL filed

by the four law students are not based on actual facts and records. There
is no discriminations between boys and girls in Aligarh Muslim
University in general and libraries in particular. Hence, the PIL is liable
to be rejected.
The first aspect, which has been clarified in the statement is that there is
no restriction on the entry of women studying at the main campus of the
University to Maulana Azad Library. The issue before the Court pertains to the
decision which was taken about access to the Maulana Azad Library to
undergraduate women students studying at the Women's College, which is
located three kilometres away. From the statement, it appears that membership
of the Maulana Azad Library

(main library) was denied to women

undergraduate students upto academic session 2013-14 for the following

reasons:
(i)

The Women's College has a well stocked library on its campus;

(ii)

There is over crowing at the Maulana Azad Library;

(iii)

The safety of women travelling from Women's College to Maulana

Azad Library cannot be ensured;

(iv)

The Vice Chancellor had written a letter to every parent of women

students studying at the College on 10 June 2013 asking them whether they
would take responsibility for maintaining the security of their daughters/wards

in the event they were permitted to visit library, but only one parent gave
his/her consent.
We shall shortly consider the legitimacy of the rationale which has been
placed before the Court on behalf of the University and the Vice Chancellor.
Before that we would note of the fact that the University has now taken a
decision that during the current academic session, one single card would be
utilized by all students both for Maulana Azad Library and for general use
with RFID & bar coded enrolment numbers. This, it has been stated, would
also function as a library card and the card would be valid for the entire
duration of the course. In view of this statement, we have been assured by
counsel appearing on behalf of the second and the third respondents that
access to all students, men and women, to Maulana Azad Library would be
permitted beginning with the current academic session once Identity Cardcum-Library Cards are issued. This shall be done expeditiously. Consequently,
women students pursuing their education at Women's College would also be
members of Maulana Azad Library. We record the assurance which has been
placed before the Court.
The statement which has been placed on the record raises three aspects
which are of serious concern. We are conscious of the fact that the intervention
by a Court in a matter of academic policy under Article 226 of the
Constitution must be circumspect. Courts normally do not interfere with
decisions of Universities and expert bodies on issues of academic policy. At
the same time, where a decision of a statutory authority has an important
bearing on the protection of fundamental human freedoms, particularly those

contained in Part III of the Constitution, judicial review would not be

excluded merely because the decision is that of an academic body. The effort
of the Court in such cases is not to substitute its own view of what appears to
be a correct or proper academic policy for the policy which has been adopted
by the University, but to determine whether a particular decision violates a
constitutional standard.
The first aspect of concern for the Court, in these proceedings, is that a
statutory body like a University in its decision making process and in the
decision which it takes cannot discriminate between men and women students.
Where a University regulates a problem of inadequacy of space and of over
crowding, any regulatory measure has to be on a gender neutral basis. Gender
cannot be a basis of exclusion from the means of acquiring information and
knowledge.
In the present case, it is not in dispute that prior to the decision which
has now been taken for 2014-15 to allow access to all including women
undergraduate students to Maulana Azad Library, access to men undergraduate
students was not barred. The exclusion was of undergraduate women students
who are pursuing their education at the Women's College. This, in our opinion,
raises a matter of serious constitutional impropriety because a regulatory
measure cannot target a section of the students on the basis of gender and
exclude them from access to the facilities of a University purportedly on the
ground that the facilities are over stretched. Regulatory measures are,
undoubtedly, permissible such as by regulating the hours of use for a certain
class of students, but it would be impermissible to exclude women

undergraduate students from access to a facility where access is not denied to

men undergraduate students. Women cannot be tasked to exclusively bear the
burdens of overcrowding.
The second aspect of concern is the justification which is offered by the
University and the Vice Chancellor for excluding women undergraduate
students of Women's College from Maulana Azad Library, on the ground that
'the lumpen elements of Aligarh city', as they have been described, pose a
danger to the security of women students. Dangers to the safety of women
students and indeed, on a wider canvass, dangers to the safety of women in the
city cannot be addressed by excluding women from access to a public facility
or for that matter, by preventing access on the ground of safety. Dangers to the
safety of women have to be taken care of by the University in close
collaboration with the law enforcement agencies. Women cannot be
discriminated against in the pursuit of education and, as an integral part of that
pursuit, in seeking access to the facility of a university library on the ground
that access to the library would pose a danger to their safety. The Constitution
guarantees the right to life and right to pursue the development of the
personality. This is the core of ordered liberty and cannot be denied or violated
on such grounds. History is replete with examples where, in the name of
preserving 'honour and dignity' the most egregious of violations have been
committed against women. Dangers to personal safety must be met by curbing
those dangers by proper policing and not by excluding access to women to
places for the pursuit of knowledge.
This leads us to the third area of concern, which is a letter addressed by

the Vice Chancellor on 10 June 2013 to parents of women students pursuing

their education in the University asking them whether they would take
responsibility for the security of their daughters/wards in case they were
permitted to visit the Library. It is stated that only one parent gave his/her
consent. This, in our opinion, is patently discriminatory. First and foremost, it
is the bounden duty of the statutory authority, which admits women students,
to ensure that an environment, conducive to proper education is made
available in the University. To ask a parent of a woman undergraduate student
whether he/she would take responsibility for the safety of his/her daughter or
ward is an abdication by the authority to perform its primary role of ensuring
the safety of women students. This is constitutionally not permissible.
In view of this, we are of the view that the above considerations which
weighed with the University in its decision to exclude women undergraduate
students from the use of Maulana Azad Library was constitutionally
impermissible since admittedly, the use of the same facility was not denied to
men undergraduate students of the University. However, since better sense has
now prevailed and appropriate action has been taken consistent with the spirit
and ethos of the Constitution, we have accepted the assurance which has been
placed before the Court, on behalf of the University. However, the issues
raised important constitutional questions in regard to the role, position and
identity of women students in our society. We have hence elucidated the legal
and constitutional position as it appears from the norms embodied in Articles
14 and 15 of the Constitution, to underscore that any attempt to discriminate
against women students will run a serious risk of being declared to be in

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violation of the fundamental human freedoms that are conferred by the

Constitution on men and women alike in our society. Since the University has
now taken a decision to ensure uniform access to Maulana Azad Library to
men and women students, we let the matter rest there.
We observe that in the event the Vice Chancellor makes a request to the
district administration for upgrading the level of policing and for taking
necessary steps for the protection and safety of women students, necessary cooperation would be extended to the authorities of the University to obviate
dangers to safety.
The petition is, accordingly, disposed of. There shall be no order as to
costs.
Order Date :- 25.11.2014
RKK/(P.K.S. Baghel, J)

(Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud, CJ)