UDAY SINHA, J.

1. By this application under Arts.226 and 227 of the Constitution the petitioners have challenged the Constitutional vires of the provisions contained in Ss.7(2)(a) and (b), (n), 24, 25, 26(2)(c) and (k) and 28 of the Bihar State Madarsa Education Board Act.

2. Petitioner No. 1 is an Association which runs a Madarsa in the town of Darbhanga. Petitioners Nos. 2 and 3 are the members of the Managing Committee of the said Association.

3. The Bihar State Madarsa Education Board Act (hereinafter referred to as the Madarsa Act) was preceded by the Bihar Ordinance 172 of 1981. The Ordinance gave place to the Act without any change. Madarsa Act is an Act to provide for the constitution of an Autonomous Board for development and better supervision of Madarsa education in the State. It would not be inapt to state that in a Madarsa, education and religion are intermixed. There is a sizable population of Muslims in the State. Madarsas being centres of Muslim education and the State being a secular State, the Madarsas also claimed State patronage like other educational institutions. The Madarsas being primarily Muslim minority institutions, they have a right to manage the