In an important development in the controversy surrounding the grant of minority status certificates to several educational trusts in Maharashtra in the aftermath of former Minority Development minister Ajit Pawar’s death, schools run by 20 trusts whose approvals have been kept in abeyance will now have to reserve 25 per cent of their seats for children from socio-economically disadvantaged families under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
Minority-run institutions are exempt from the RTE Act, which mandates that private unaided schools reserve 25 per cent of seats for students from economically weaker and disadvantaged backgrounds. However, with the minority status of these trusts temporarily suspended pending a probe, the exemption will no longer apply.
Acting on a list recently issued by the Minority Development Department, the Directorate of Primary Education has directed district-level officials to identify schools run by the 20 trusts and include them in the RTE admission portal if they had earlier been excluded on account of minority status, according to Director of Primary Education Sharad Gosavi.
“The list includes 20 trusts. Each trust may run one or more schools, some of which could be primary schools. Local officers have been asked to verify the schools and include them in the system accordingly,” he told this newspaper.
Among the trusts whose minority status certificates have been kept in abeyance are Shri Mata Kanyaka Seva Sanstha in Chandrapur; Sevadas Maharaj Shikshan Prasarak Mandal and Shrimati Laxmibai Raghogi Ingle Shikshan Prasarak Mandal in Yavatmal; multiple Podar trust institutions based in Parel, Mumbai; Danish Welfare Society in Amravati; Azad Education and Multipurpose Sanstha in Buldhana; and Gurukul Pisa Foundation in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, apart from education societies located in Thane, Gondia, Nagpur and Kolhapur.
Of the 20 trusts, six are located in Mumbai district — the highest in the state — followed by four in Yavatmal and two in Thane, while one trust each is located in Chandrapur, Amravati, Buldhana, Nagpur, Gondia, Kolhapur, Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
Officials said the move is likely to increase the number of seats available under the RTE admission process, which is currently underway in Maharashtra.
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“If any of the newly added schools fall within a one-kilometre radius of a child’s residence, parents can apply for admission there,” Gosavi said, adding that applicants should keep checking the RTE admission website as the system is updated. The current application window will remain open until March 10.
The exact number of additional seats that will become available under the RTE quota is not yet known. “The number will be clear only after these schools are reflected in the RTE admission system,” Gosavi added.
The development comes in the backdrop of a controversy over the issuance of minority status certificates to several educational trusts in the state. Questions were raised after minority status approvals were issued to dozens of trusts within a short period around the time of Ajit Pawar’s death on January 28, prompting allegations of irregularities.
Following the controversy, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered that the approvals be kept in abeyance pending review, while Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar directed a detailed inquiry into the process. Milind Shenoy, Deputy Secretary in the Minority Development Department, whose digital signature appears on all the uploaded certificates, was transferred on administrative grounds following the controversy. This week, Ruchesh Jaivanshi, Secretary of the department, was also transferred, although the government did not link the move to the controversy.
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The Minority Development Department, however, has defended the approvals. As first reported by The Indian Express on February 22, the department told the Chief Secretary that most of the certificates that appeared to have been issued between January 28 and January 30 were uploaded after technical errors in the MahaIT portal, which had delayed the generation of digital minority status certificates, were rectified. In its explanation, the department termed reports suggesting that the approval process was arbitrary as “baseless” and a distortion of facts, stating that hearings and approvals for 19 of the 20 trusts had already been completed between December 24, 2025 and January 27, 2026, when Ajit Pawar was still alive and in charge of the Minority Development portfolio.
Under the RTE Act, 25 per cent of seats in private unaided schools are reserved for children from socio-economically disadvantaged families, with the state reimbursing the schools’ fees.
Private unaided schools across Maharashtra have long opposed mandatory RTE admissions, citing delays in reimbursements from the state government. Associations representing such schools claim that pending reimbursements have cumulatively crossed ₹2,000 crore.
Education activists say that minority status has increasingly become a route for private schools to avoid RTE obligations, since institutions run by minority trusts are exempt from the mandatory 25 per cent reservation under the law.
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Minority status row: At a glance
- Minority certificates of 20 trusts kept in abeyance amid a row over approvals issued around the time of Ajit Pawar’s death.
- Their schools must now join the RTE admission process and reserve 25% seats for disadvantaged students.
- Minority institutions are exempt from RTE, but the exemption does not apply while their status is under suspension.
- District officials asked to add these schools to the RTE portal.
- Trusts include: Shri Mata Kanyaka Seva Sanstha (Chandrapur), Sevadas Maharaj Shikshan Prasarak Mandal (Yavatmal), Shrimati Laxmibai Raghogi Ingle Shikshan Prasarak Mandal (Yavatmal), Danish Welfare Society (Amravati), Azad Education and Multipurpose Sanstha (Buldhana), Gurukul Pisa Foundation (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), and Podar trust institutions in Parel, Mumbai.
