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 ALL INDIA MUSLIM
MAJLIS-e-MUSHAWARAT
Proposed Commission for Minority Institutions Totally Inadequate
Impact on Educational Initiative by Muslims will be Marginal and insubstantial
Requests Reformulation of Bill to Remove Real Difficulties and Obstacles in Availing Article 30(1) and (2)
New Delhi, 8 December, 2004: Shri Syed Shahabuddin, President of the All India Muslim Majlis- e-Mushawarat (AIMMM), has issued the following Statement :
“The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM)
has carefully examined the provisions of the Bill, introduced in the Lok
Sabha on 7 December, 2004 to replace the National Commission for Minority
Educational Institutions Ordinance, 2004.
The AIMMM finds that the Commission, as designed and to the extent
empowered in the Bill, does not address the real and genuine difficulties
faced by thousands of educational institutions of their choice established
by the Muslim community under Article 30(1) of the Constitution.
The Muslim educational institutions range from primary schools to
post-graduate colleges and include technical and professional
colleges.
1. Madrasas, which educate the students so as to
enable them to switch to middle schools, or high schools or higher
secondary schools or colleges at appropriate levels fall outside the
purview of the Commission.
2. Schools, which seek recognition and
grant-in-aid from State authorities and admission to examination conducted
by State Examination Board fall outside the purview of the
Commission.
3. Colleges, general as well as technical and
professional, which seek affiliation to State universities in their own
States fall outside the jurisdiction of the Commission.
96.52% of the Muslim population lives in 15
States, UP, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Assam, Kerala, AP,
J&K, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil
Nadu and Delhi. The Bill designates 6 universities out of
which 4 have no attraction at all for the Muslims, the marginal
exceptions being Assam and Delhi Universities. But Muslims in Assam
and Delhi with 5.96% and 1.18% of the State population have no problem.
Assam University has no attraction for outsiders. And obviously the
capacity of Delhi University to affiliate Muslim colleges from outside
Delhi and even from Delhi itself is limited.
4. Professional and Technical Colleges
established by the Muslim community face great difficulty in
obtaining NOC’s from the State Governments. The Commission has no
jurisdiction to intervene in such cases.
They also face enormous difficulty in
obtaining approval of the statutory bodies like the MCI and the AICTE.
The Commission has no jurisdiction to intervene in such cases.
5. Minority Institutions have the constitutional
right to receive due grant-in-aid from the State
Governments/universities and other statutory bodies under Article 30(2) of
the Constitution. The Commission has no power to intervene or to
ensure sanction of grant-in-aid.
Since the Commission has the last word only under Section 12(1) of the
Bill in cases relating to disputes on affiliation of Muslim colleges to
the Scheduled Universities, which shall be rare, the sum total of
the assistance rendered by the Commission to the Muslim community in the
national context will be marginal and insubstantial.
In short, except for intervening in a ‘dispute’ with a
scheduled university, if and when a Muslim college seeks affiliation
thereto, there is no way the Commission can facilitate the full
enjoyment by the Muslim community of its constitutional rights under
Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution.
The existing National Commission for Minorities has a much wider
scope and jurisdiction and has been assisting the Minority
Educational Institutions of various levels including those
established by the Muslim community in obtaining recognition, affiliation,
admission to examinations and grant-in-aid. The present Commission
duplicates the function of the NCM only in cases arising from Muslim
institution’s desire for affiliation to one of the Scheduled
Universities.
The AIMMM is simply
puzzled as to how this mismatch between expectation and non-fulfillment
has occurred.
The AIMMM, therefore, requests the Union Government, to reformulate
the legislation to provide an institutional arrangement which
effectively removes the real difficulties faced by the Muslim community,
so that it may feel encouraged to invest its savings, sparse as they are,
in education, for advancing and promoting the future of its children, from
the primary right upto university level, including professional and
technical courses.
Sd/- Syed Shahabuddin
ALL INDIA MUSLIM
MAJLIS-e-MUSHAWARAT
N-44, Abul Fazal Enclave, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi - 110 025 Phone: 2632
6780 Fax: 2632 7346 Email:
muslim@del3.vsnl.net.in q
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