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Commission can decide minority status

Special Correspondent

Union Cabinet takes the ordinance route to facilitate implementation of quota Bill

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Friday decided to promulgate an ordinance to give the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) the power to decide all questions of minority status and cancel such recognition if the situation so warrants.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the ordinance would facilitate the implementation of the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Bill, 2005 to reserve seats for socially and educationally backward classes, besides the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, in private unaided institutions other than those run by minorities.

Though a Bill to give the Commission the power to define a "minority institution" was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in the monsoon session last year, delay in its passage made the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry consider the ordinance route to identify minority institutions which could be exempted from the purview of the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Bill.

Protesting the exclusion of minority institutions from the ambit of the Constitution Amendment, many parties sought a clear definition of the term `minority' as it applies to both religious and linguistic minorities.

Responding to a discussion in Parliament, HRD Minister Arjun Singh said remedial measures would be taken if necessary. The ordinance is billed as a step in this direction.

The NCMEI (Amendment) Bill also seeks to plug loopholes, which hindered the functioning of the Commission since inception in 2004. It proposes to relax the provision, which restricted minority institutions to seek affiliation to any of the six listed scheduled universities: Delhi University, North-Eastern Hill University, Pondicherry University, Assam University, Nagaland University and Mizoram University. The Bill allows them to seek affiliation to any university of their choice subject to its rules. By another provision, if a no-objection certificate (NOC) is not granted within 90 days, the applicant can go ahead and start an institution.

The amendment also seeks to give appellate jurisdiction to the Commission in matters of refusal of the NOC for establishing a minority institution.

According to the statement of objects and reasons, all proceedings before the Commission shall be deemed judicial and its orders are executable as decrees of a civil court.

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