The Hindu : National : Chairperson appointed for minority education panel

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 27, 2004

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National

Chairperson appointed for minority education panel

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 26. A fortnight after it promulgated an ordinance to set up the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, the Government today appointed retired judge M.S.A. Siddiqui as its chairperson with the former Union Minister, Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, and academic Valson Thampu as members. The three members will hold charge for five years from the day they take office.

The Commission — billed as an appellate authority to deal with all ticklish issues pertaining to minority education — has been set up in keeping with a commitment made by the United Progressive Alliance in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP). Though in the NCMP the Government committed itself to amending "the Constitution to establish a Commission for Minority Educational Institutions that will provide direct affiliation to minority professional institutions to Central Universities," the Human Resource Development Ministry after examining all aspects came to the conclusion that legislation would suffice.

Among the tasks assigned to the Commission is an advisory role as per which it can advice the Central and State Governments on any question relating to the education of minorities that may be referred to it. It will also look into specific complaints of violation of the rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice, and any dispute on affiliation to a Scheduled University and report its findings to the Centre for its implementation.

As per the ordinance, minority educational institutions can seek affiliation to any of the six affiliating universities that have been categorised as `Scheduled Universities' by the Ministry. They are Delhi University, North-Eastern Hill University, Pondicherry University, Assam University, Nagaland University and Mizoram Universities.

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