Clearing the decks for grant of minority status to the Jamia Millia Islamia,the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) on Tuesday ruled that the Central university was a minority institution founded by Muslims for the benefit of Muslims. On a conjoint reading of Sections 2(o) and 4 of the Jamia Millia Islamia Act,1988,along with the history of facts and events which led to the establishment of the Jamia,we have no hesitation in holding that it was founded by the Muslims and it never lost its identity as a Muslim minority educational institution, stated a three-member commission led by Justice M S A Siddiqui. Jamia will be the first Central university to be granted minority status. It will no longer have to give reservation to SC and ST students. Welcoming the verdict,Jamia Vice-Chancellor Najeeb Jung told Newsline that the minority status will put greater onus on the institution to preserve its secular character. Ours has always been a secular institution in spirit,ever since it was established in 1920. We have been a robust nationalist institution and will continue to do so, he said. The commission was hearing a petition by Jamia Teachers Association that it is a minority education institution covered under Article 30(1) of the Constitution. The Jamia Students Union and Jamia Old Boys Association have filed similar petitions. The petitioners contended that Jamia was founded in October 1920 by national leaders Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar and Hakim Ajmal Khan as they wanted Muslims to keep education in their own hands,free from governmental interference. It was set up for empowering Muslims through education and since then has been administered by the Muslim community,they argued. In 1939,some teachers of Jamia constituted a society and got it registered as Jamia Millia Islamia Society. In 1962,the UGC accorded it the status of a deemed university and it was later given the status of a Central university under the Jamia Millia Islamia Act,1988. Former Jamia Registrar S M Afzal,in his 2006 affidavit,opposed the petition saying it is not a minority educational institution. The HRD Ministry also sought a stay on the proceedings citing a Supreme Court ruling in Azeez Basha vs Union of India,in which it was held that the Aligarh Muslim University is not a minority institution as it was incorporated under a Central Act. The NCMEI,however,held that the SC ruling had no relevance in the present case because till the enactment of a law for establishment of AMU as a Central university in 1920,AMU existed only as the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College and was not set up for the Muslim community. The Jamia did not owe its very existence to a statute. Since its foundation in 1920 till enactment of the Jamia Millia Islamia Act,Jamia never lost its identity, the ruling said,adding that even prior to the enactment of the Act,Jamia had legal existence of its own. Through an April 3,2006,directive,the HRD Ministry had ordered Jamia to take appropriate steps to admit at least 50 per cent students from the Muslim community,thereby conceding the minority status of the institution,the commission said. The NCMEI also pointed out that the Majlis-i-Muntazimah (Executive Council) had adopted a few amendments to the existing Act in 1997,including one that said Jamia be declared as a minority institution so that its historical character is intact.
