Faculty, students of the university appeal to Delhi High Court to safeguard it's minority character

Identity crisis: Jamia university moves court

Faculty, students of the university appeal to Delhi High Court to safeguard it's minority character

Even as the government is mulling what the true character of the Jamia Millia Islamia University is, faculty of the central university has taken the battle to court.
The Jamia Teachers' Association, an umbrella organisation of the faculty employed with the university, has filed a plea before the Delhi High Court to certify its minority status.

Courting controversy: Jamia was originally established in Aligarh,
western Uttar Pradesh

The Human Resource Development Ministry in its report on implementing 27 per cent reservation in central institutions of higher learning had asked the varsity, situated in south Delhi, to apply the quota. The report alluded to a declaration by Jamia in 1988 in which it purportedly said the varsity is a central and not minority institution.

However, the Jamia teachers and employees union have now joined the battle. They are contending that the varsity was established as a minority institution and it should not be altered.

"The HRD Ministry is trying to implement the same rules on Jamia it has been applying to other universities. Jamia is a minority institution as per National Policy of Education 1986. Institutions like Jamia and Aligarh Muslim University will naturally include the constitutional guarantees of the minorities to establish and administer their own educational institutions and protect their language and culture," said Mohammad Tariq, counsel for Jamia Teachers' Association.

The teachers have made it clear that the latest move by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal is an "attack on the integrity of the university."
"It is one of the very few organisations that provide education to the minority community on priority basis," they said.

"Our stand is clear. The past HRD ministers have never interfered in the varsity's policy. But now it seems that the ministry is confused, as it cannot establish the difference between secular and minority characters of the university," said Tabrez Alam, petitioner and former joint secretary, central university teachers' association and Professor, Department of Chemistry, Jamia Millia Islamia.

"We provide top class education to students from all across the country. But since we are a minority institution we take up students from the minority community on a priority basis. One of the basic aims of the varsity is to provide higher education to the backward Muslim community in the country. If the government will alter the character of the varsity, it will be a huge loss to the Muslim community as a whole and specifically tou00a0 young Muslims who are aiming to educate themselves," he said.

Senior teachers of the varsity have also vented their ire against the HRD ministry for it's "double standards".
"The UPA government at the centre is adopting double standards regarding the welfare of Muslims. They were the ones to set up the Rangnath Mishra commission.

The commission's report clearly indicates the pathetic educational backwardness among Muslims while pointing out the great role universities like AMU and Jamia are playing for the uplift of Muslims," said Raees Khan, co-petitioner and president of Jamia Teachers' Association.

He alleged that the government is hell-bent on changing the character of AMU and Jamia so that it can have a bull run over the policies governing the two minority institutions.
"Mr Kapil Sibal should know that even if his intentions are good, any such move will only create more problems than solutions for the Muslim community," Khan added.

The debate

The ministries of minority affairs and HRD are at loggerheads over the issue of granting minority status to Jamia Milia Islamia. Minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid and HRD minister Kapil Sibal have taken opposite stands on the issue, official sources said.
While Khurshid has supported grant of minority status to the 90-year-old university, Sibal has not endorsed such a view and asked for more facts from the former to justify the need for altering the present status of the institution.
The matter of grant of minority status to Jamia is at present pending with the National Commission for Minority Educational Institution (NCMEI). A similar petition challenging the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is pending in the Supreme Court. The NCMEI is not able to take a decision since the AMU judgement will have a bearing in Jamia case.
Pending the matter in the court, Khurshid had written a letter to Sibal in February, seeking his support for taking initiative for early listing of the matter in the Supreme Court.
Khurshid had said that Muslims are eagerly waiting a favourable decision for minority status. Khurshid has written that both the universities by history are minority institutions "de facto" and can be given "de jure" minority status, sources said.
Sibal has written back to Khurshid, saying that it may not be appropriate to conclude that stand of the HRD Ministry needs any alteration.
He asked Khurshid to provide data and historical facts to justify why present status of the university needs any change, sources said.
Every institution has a unique history and its character must be culled from the context it was set up, Sibal has written. The HRD minister has provided a detailed account on the historical genesis and character of Jamia.