The Delhi high court on Wednesday refused to grant stay on the current admission process in the Jamia Milia Islamia University saying that minority status granted to it would continue for now.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday refused to grant stay on the current admission process in the Jamia Milia Islamia University saying that minority status granted to it would continue for now.
The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) headed by justice MSA Siddiqui had recently granted the minority status to the university enabling it to reserve up to 50% seats for Muslim students.
A division bench of chief justice Dipak Misra and justice Sanjiv Khanna made it clear that those students who get admission under the new reservation policy would have to wait for the final outcome of the court order.
The court will further hear the matter on July 14 and issued notice to the Centre, Jamia Milia Islamia University, NCMEI and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
The bench was hearing a batch of public interest litigations (PILs) challenging the grant of minority status to the university.
Appearing for Centre for Public Interest Litigation, lawyer Prashant Bhushan 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% 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,” Bhushan said.
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”.
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.
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