Shah was the
vice-chancellor of
Aligarh Muslim University from 2012 to 2017. From 2010 to 2015, Shah’s appointment as the vice-chancellor of the university was the subject of a petition in the
Allahabad High Court as the regulations of the
University Grants Commission state that vice-chancellors of a university are required to work as a professor in a university or in an equivalent post in an academic institute for at least 10 years before they can be appointed to the position in any institute. The High Court dismissed their petition and allowed him to stay in his position, however petitioners later made an appeal to the
Supreme Court. In September 2016, the Supreme Court questioned the appointment of Shah as the vice-chancellor of the university and asserted that all universities in the country have to follow the rules prescribed by the UGC. Shah, however, was allowed to serve in his position until the expiration of his term in May 2017. The petition was supported by a number of people and lobbies associated with the university who had also alleged that Shah’s appointment, as well as many of the decisions made by him after coming to power, were a result of corruption. Shah said that his comments were being stretched out of context and sensationalised, that the undergraduates from Abdullah College and the Women's College were not allowed to come to the central library because it was overcrowded and that there were issues of women's safety on the route. He also said they had access to top of the order libraries at their own colleges and that they could still access the central library digitally. In the middle of national reportage of alleged sexist discrimination based on the Minister's comments, the matter also went to the Allahabad High Court which directed the university to take adequate measures to ensure the safety of women attending the library. The Women's College Students Union had demanded the university administration to improve safety of women, to extend the library and extend high speed Wi-Fi access instead of imposing restrictions on girls. However on the matter of the national attention, they protested against the media for "biased reporting" and told the Minister to stay away from the matter. In 2015, Shah said Muslims lagged behind in the development race because they kept their women “enslaved” and not working during
Ramzan. == Personal life ==