Modi government attempts to reverse Jamia Millia Islamia?s minority status

By Prarthana Mitra

The Centre has filed a revised affidavit with the Delhi High Court to reverse National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions’ (NCMEI) declaration of Jamilia Millia Islamia as a religious minority institution. In 2011, the Ministry of Human Resource Development under Kapil Sibal had filed an affidavit, agreeing to follow the NCEMI declaration.

What does the affidavit state?

However, according to the fresh affidavit filed on March 5, as reported by media sources, the BJP-led government informed the Delhi High Court that the predominantly Muslim university was a government run-institution set up not be a minority sect but by an Act of Parliament, and is still funded by the centre. 

The minority status earlier ordained by NCMEI’s affidavit was challenged, on grounds that the same had not been granted to Aligarh University in the Azeez Basha Vs Union of India case of 1968. In this case, the apex court had ruled that “a university incorporated under an Act of Parliament cannot claim the status of a minority institution”.

“Treating a central university as a minority education institution is repugnant to law besides undermining its status and is against the basic tenet of a central university,” reads the affidavit. 

What does the Article 30(1) state?

JMI was founded by Muslim nationalist leaders in 1920, in response to Mahatma Gandhi’s call to boycott foreign education. The 2011 declaration by the NCMEI stated that it was primarily built “for the benefit of Muslims and it never lost its identity as a Muslim minority educational institution.” This implied that the University was covered under Article 30(1) of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act that gives religious and linguistic minorities the right to set up and run educational institutions, including schools, colleges and universities.

However, the fresh affidavit contradicted this ruling by stating that “by no stretch of imagination” can the Article 30(1) be interpreted to mean that “even if an educational institution has been established by a Central Act, still the minority has the right to administer it.”

Support for the institute’s minority status had been dwindling since 2016 when former Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi empowered the HRD ministry to challenge the university’s minority status as they weren’t legally required to act in accordance with NCMEI’s declarations.