Prof Naima Khatoon, the first women VC of AMU

The Union Ministry of Education has appointed Professor Naima Khatoon  the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). She is the first women to be appointed the Vice Chancellor of the University.

The ministry appointed Professor Khatoon after the President Droupadi Murmu, who serves as the Visitor of the university approved her name. Currently Professor Khatoon is the Principal of the Women's College of the Aligarh Muslim University.

Professor Khatoon has been appointed  the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University for a period of five years from the date she assumes the charge or attains the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier. 

First Women VC of AMU and third VC of Central University 

Professor Naima Khatoon is the first woman to be appointed the VC of Aligarh Muslim University. Begum Sultan Jahan was appointed the Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University in 1920. Begum Sultan Jahan was the first Muslim to occupy a top post in the University.

The Aligarh Muslim University has become the  second central university in India to have a women Vice-Chancellor at present. Currently,Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit is the Vice-Chancellor  of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

About Professor Naima Khatoon 

Professor Naima Khatoon joined Aligarh Muslim University as a lecturer in 1998. She was made the Chairperson of the Department of Psychology at the University, and in 2014, she was appointed Principal at Women's College.

She has also taught at the National University of Rwanda.

Aligarh  Muslim University 

The Aligarh Muslim University was established in 1920 under the  Aligarh Muslim University Act, 1920. The origin of the Aligarh Muslim University is traced to the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College set up on 7 January 1877 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. 

Sir Syed founded  Madarsatul Uloom in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh on 24 May 1875. He founded the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College on the model of Oxford and Cambridge Universities of England.The main aim was to promote the study of science and English amongst the muslim population in India. 

The University has three study centers at Murshidabad in West Bengal, at Mallapurum in Kerala and at Kishanganj in Bihar.  

Is AMU a Minority Educational Institution? 

Under Article 30 of the Indian constitution, minority communities in India have the right to establish and administer their own educational institution. In a minority educational institution, there is no reservation for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled tribes students. The Right to Education Act 2009, as amended in 2012, does not apply to minority educational institutions.

In the Azeez Basha v Union of India case of 1967, the Supreme Court held that the Aligarh Muslim University is not a minority educational institution as it was not established by the Muslims but by the  British government through the Aligarh Muslim University Act 1920. 

In 1981, the Parliament amended the Aligarh Muslim University Act 1920 to include the provision that the ‘Aligarh Muslim University was set up by the Muslims in India’. 

The Allahabad High Court struck down the 1981 amendment in the Aligarh Muslim University Act 1920.

The government of India and the Aligarh Muslim University challenged the Allahabad High Court judgement in the Supreme Court. In 2014, the Modi government withdrew its petition from the Supreme Court, but the Aligarh Muslim University and others continued its case in the Supreme Court. 

The Supreme Court has reserved its judgement on the Aligarh Muslim University Minority status case.