AMN / NEW DELHI
In a major shift from the Congress led UPA government’s stand on Jamia Milia Islamia, the Centre government led by prime minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have opposed the minority status granted to the University in Delhi High Court.
It has been learnt that the government has filed a revised affidavit in the Delhi High Court challenging the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI)’s decision according minority status to Jamia Millia Islamia, reports Indian Express.
It has been learnt that Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) on August 29, 2011, when Kapil Sibal was minister, had filed an affidavit in court stating that the government “respects the declaration made by NCMEI”.
According to sources the latest affidavit filed by the Centre on March 5 in Delhi High Court cited Azeez Basha Vs Union of India case of 1968 in the Supreme Court. The government said that in that case, the top court had ruled that a university cannot claim the status of a minority institution if it is incorporated under an Act of Parliament.
The affidavit states, “In any event, the Board of Jamia Millia Islamia is elected and need not necessarily consist of majority belonging to the Muslim religion. The question of it being a minority institution, therefore, does not arise.”
The affidavit further states, “Treating a central university as a minority education institution is repugnant to law besides undermining its status and is against the basic tenet of a central university… By no stretch of the imagination, Article 30(1) could be read to mean that even if an educational institution has been established by a Central Act, still the minority has the right to administer it.”
JMI “is not a minority institution, having been set up by an Act of Parliament and funded by central government, and also that it was not set up by a minority sect”, the report cites the affidavit as saying.
NCMEI’s 2011 order said: “Jamia was founded by the Muslims for the benefit of Muslims and it never lost its identity as a Muslim minority educational institution”, and was, therefore, “covered under Article 30(1), read with Section 2(g) of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act”. Article 30(1) of the Constitution provides all religious and linguistic minorities the right to set up and run academic institutions. These educational institutions include schools, colleges and universities.