Jamia to continue with its minority status- High Court

New Delhi: Students wishing to take admission in Jamia Millia Islamia
for this academic session face an uncertain future with the Delhi High
Court on Wednesday refusing to grant a stay on an amendment conferring
it minority status.

The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI)
headed by Justice M.S.A. Siddiqui had recently granted "minority"
status to the university which will enable it to reserve up to 50
percent seats for Muslim students.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv
Khanna on Wednesday also made it clear that those students who get
admission under the new reservation policy will have to wait for the
final outcome of the court order.

The court will further hear the matter on July 14.

The bench was hearing the batch of public interest litigation (PIL)
challenging the grant of minority status to Jamia Millia Islamia
university.

Prashant Bhushan in his petition said: "The admission policy of the
university as approved in the academic council meeting held on March
29, does not have any provision for reservation for the SC, ST and OBC
candidates, instead there is provision for total 50 percent
reservation for Muslim candidates."

"It is pertinent to mention that reservation for SC, ST and OBC
candidates is a constitutional provision which all central
universities have to follow," said Bhushan.

Another petitioner, Vijay Kumar Sharma, president of NGO Yuva Bharti
Samiti, alleged that "the Jamia Millia Islamia Act, 1988, incorporates
and establishes the university and dissolves the Jamia Millia Islamia
Society, which was managing and running it, and the NCMEI has no
jurisdiction or authority to declare it a minority institution."

Recalling the circumstances when the university was founded, the PIL
claims Jamia was always envisioned as a secular national university
and "it's a travesty that it has been declared a minority
institution".

"The university is a central university of national importance and is
an alloy of secular Indian culture where members of all caste, creed
and religions have been benefited and cannot be conferred with the
status of minority institution," the petition, filed by advocates
Rakesh Kumar on behalf of Sharma, said.

The varsity will no longer have to give reservation to SC and ST
students also, the panel, a quasi-judicial body, had said while
allowing the petitions of students union, Jamia Old Boys Association
and Jamia Teachers Association. These petitions were filed in 2006.

Earlier, the NCMEI had said Jamia would continue to enjoy the central
university status and the only "minority central university" in the
country, given its unique character.

The Delhi High court has also issued notice to Union of India, Jamia
Milia Islamia University, NCMEI and National Commission for Scheduled
Tribes seeking their reply by July 14. IANS