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Sikhs not minority but Centre
out to give sop to other
minority varsities
WSN Bureau
New Delhi: Even as
the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently ruled that the Sikhs are
not a minority in Punjab, thus taking away SGPC's right to run
minority institutions in the state, the Centre is redefining
minority education institutions to exempt Aligarh Muslim University
and some other varsities from government control over fees,
admission quotas and administration.
The UPA government
has decided to insulate universities set up and administered by
minorities from long-pending regulations on private sector higher
education.
The proposed move,
coinciding with talk of early elections, will exempt universities
like the AMU from OBC quotas that the government is intent on
introducing in higher education. Will the SGPC institutions be
covered by the initiative is still not known.
The Prime Minister
has already approved the proposed amendments to the
National
Commission of Minority Educational Institutions Act, drafted by the
human resource development ministry.
HRD officials
refused to comment on the “sensitive” amendments, except confirming
that education minister Arjun Singh himself had ordered the move. A
cabinet note has been finalised, stating the government’s intention
to introduce the amendment bill in Parliament before the end of the
budget session.
The current law
states that a university cannot be recognised as a minority
educational institution even if it is set up or maintained by a
person or group of people from minority communities. (See chart) The
Centre, however, had declared the AMU and Delhi-based Jamia Hamdard
(a deemed-to-be university) as minority educational institutions,
drawing a PIL and much controversy two years ago.
Allahabad High Court
rejected the decision to grant the AMU — a central university —
minority status in 2006. The Centre’s plea against the order is
pending in the Supreme Court.
The proposed
amendments will for the first time bring universities within the
ambit of minority educational institutions.
Justifying the
amendments, the cabinet note refers to the Central Educational
Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 — the OBC quota
law. The act, though passed by Parliament, is pending in the Supreme
Court after anti-quota activists challenged the law.
The note explains
why the amendment is essential to safeguard the AMU and other
minority-run universities from quotas.
Nearly 50 minority
deemed-to-be universities, which under the current law stand to lose
their special status if upgraded to full-fledged varsities, will
also receive complete exemption from government control.
Most of these are
privately owned and have complained against planned regulations to
monitor fees, admissions and administration of private higher
education institutes.
Although the AMU is
specifically mentioned in the note, it is unclear whether other
government-managed universities like Jamia Milia Islamia or Osmania
University (run by the Andhra Pradesh government) will benefit from
the amendment.
12
March 2008
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