Author: Santwana Bhattacharya
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 2, 2002
After delaying a decision on the
issue of 50 per cent reservation in religious and linguistic minority-run
institutions, the Central Government has finally taken the view that admission/selection
to seats reserved for minority students should be on the basis of merit.
The Government's draft proposal,
which calls for absolute transparency in the admission/selection procedure
relating to reserved seats in the religious and linguistic minority-run
institutes, was prepared after several rounds of discussions involving
the Human Resource Development and Law Ministers.
HRD Ministry officials involved
in drafting the proposal said that taking into account the commercialization
of education and the growing menace of capitation fees being charged by
some minority-run institutes, the Government has decided to seek transparency
in the admission pm" and restriction of the minority quota to 50 per cent
of the seats.
"The Government has decided there
should be no increase in the minority quota. And the selection/admission
to even the 50 per cent seats reserved for the minority students should
be done on the ' basis of merit," an HRD Ministry official said.
Incidentally, from Thursday, an
11-judge bench headed by Justice B. N. Kripal will look at important questions
of law relating to 'minorities' and 'religion' in the context of educational
restitutions run by minority communities.
The Constitution bench is hearing
a clutch of 200 petitions on the rights of minorities to establish and
administer educational institutions.
It is also examining the scope of
the word 'minority' - whether a member of a minority community will get
that right if he/she nitrates to another state where he/she not a minority
and whether the word' minority' is to be considered at the national or
state level.
