The central government has reportedly decided to withdraw support for the public central university, Jamia Millia Islamia’s minority status in court. The Human Resource Development Ministry (HRD) ministry is likely to file an affidavit in the Delhi High Court stating that declaring Jamia a minority institution was an “error” since it was set up by an Act of Parliament and is funded by the government.
Last year, the government had told the Supreme Court that Aligarh Muslim University was never intended to be a Muslim institution. The law ministry had told the HRD that they can change their stand on Jamia and oppose the religious minority status on the grounds that it was not started by the Muslim community.
It was on the basis of the support extended by the central government to the order of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) that JMI had no longer reserved seats for SC/ST and OBC students and had kept half of the seats for the Muslim candidates. The HRD ministry which was then led by Smriti Irani had stated that the centre “respects the declaration made by NCMEI”.
While most of them hailed the move on Twitter some seemed to disagree with government’s decision to withdraw the support.
Here’s how the Twitter responded:
The attack on minority institutes continues.
Resist and Fight Back these tactics of the Government! https://t.co/NZInFeORyo— Kawalpreet Kaur (@kawalpreetdu) August 7, 2017
Public funded Institutes can’t have minority status. if Jamia Millia Islamia still want status then Govt should stop grants & financial aids
— Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) August 7, 2017
“Jamia Millia Islamia” loses status. i.e. ‘Minority’. How long one’ll like to remain minority even after so many years ? Intriguing & fishy.
— SHANKAR BARADHWAJ (@shankar6763) August 7, 2017
And this is how India is changing, day by day, little by little,one bite at a time. @KhurafatiChopra has this scoop https://t.co/jUVwTu6AAp
— Nirupama Subramanian (@tallstories) August 7, 2017
Pressing the already suppressed class will not be helping anyone anymore
“Jamia Millia Islamia”
Try to change railway infra .. not only name— Parvez Choudhari__ (@parvezcivil) August 7, 2017
Good move
— The Creator (@Vidhaatha) August 7, 2017
As per Section 2 (o) of the JMI Act, Jamia Millia Islamia founded in 1920 during the Khilafat and Non-Co-operation movements in response to Mahatma Gandhi’s call for a boycott of all Government-sponsored educational institutions, which was subsequently registered in 1939 as Jamia Millia Islamia Society, and declared in 1962 as an institution deemed to be a University under section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, and which is incorporated as a University under this Act.
