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In a big relief to about 17 lakh madrassa students in Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court today paused an Allahabad High Court order scrapping the UP Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004. This allows about 16,000 madrassas in the state to continue functioning under the 2004 law.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that the high court decision was prima facie not correct and asked the Uttar Pradesh government. The court also sought a response from the UP government and posted the matter for further hearing in the second week of July.

The high court had last month declared the 2004 law “unconstitutional” for violating the principle of secularism and directed the government to accommodate the madrasa students in the formal education system.

The Supreme Court put it on hold on Friday and said the aims and objectives of the Madrassa Board are regulatory in nature and the establishment of the Madrassa Board itself will not affect secularism.