The first bench comprising Chief Justice AP Sahi and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, while refusing to condone the long delay by the TN government in moving its appeal against Syed Amma Engineering College in this regard, said: “A periodical renewal of a certificate by limiting its validity may not be necessary for an existing status of minority protected as a fundamental right under Article 30 of the Constitution.”

 “It is not something akin to the extension of a beneficial social scheme which may require a periodical physical verification of the living status of a human being or like the renewal of a gun licence which is also a privilege, or in the like manner a driving licence,” the bench said.

 The court also set aside the government’s contention that the prescription of five years is justified when compared to other states which provided for such renewals every three years, on the basis that there is no rationale in the prescription to make it constitutionally sustainable.

 “The existence of such a fundamental right is not dependent upon certification, but is dependent upon the ingredients of the establishment and administration of an educational institution,” the bench said.

 Also, pointing out that the State can exercise a reasonable control in the grant of certification “when the legal character of the minority status of an institution on its own undergoes a transformation,” the bench said: “Thus a living nature of the status of minority unless duly transformed in a way so as to lose its basic character, minority or otherwise, cannot be deprived of its status which is not dependent upon a certification.”