Minority tag: Centre to amend Act for institutions

The Union Cabinet today decided to bring in an ordinance empowering the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) to...

The Union Cabinet today decided to bring in an ordinance empowering the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) to decide on the status of minority educational institutions.

The ordinance will amend the original act that constituted the commission, give it more power including “to decide on all questions relating to the status of any institution as a minority educational institution”.

However, the status of universities does not come under the NCMEI’s purview.

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For the purposes of the NCMEI Act, only five communities are notified as minorities — Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis and Sikhs.

HRD officials were unwilling to clarify how the status of linguistic minorities will be decided or if the proposed ordinance will expand the NCMEI’s scope in this regard.

Amendments to the act have been necessitated by the exemption granted to minority institutions from reserving seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and socially and educationally backward classes as a per a constitutional amendment in December. Since many private educational institutions are likely to claim minority status to insulate itself from quota provisions, a mechanism to identify genuine institutes has been urged.

The ordinance will give NCMEI power to give and take away minority status from any institution. It will also enable the commission to probe complaints regarding violations of the rights of minority institutions. The panel will also have the powers to outline the criteria for minority status. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the ordinance will be replaced by an Act in the Budget session.