Context:

• The Supreme Court held that the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) has original jurisdiction to determine which institution should be granted minority status.

About NCMEI:

• A Bench of Justice A.K. Goel said the Constitution granted a fundamental right to all minorities, whether based on religion or language, to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
• The wide power given to an independent forum like the NCMEI to declare an institution as a minority educational institution furthered the fundamental right guaranteed under Article 30.
• Justice Nariman, who authored the judgment, said the NCMEI Act empowered the Commission “to decide all questions relating to the status of an institution as a minority educational institution and to declare its status as such.”
• Section 11(f) would include the declaration of the status of an institution as a minority educational institution at all stages.
• The court held that the NCMEI had the power to decide any question that might arise, which relate directly or indirectly, with respect to the status of an institution as a minority educational institution.

‘At all stages’

• The Supreme Court held that the NCMEI could declare an establishment as a minority educational institution “at all stages.”
• Justice Nariman said the 2006 amendments to the NCMEI Act introduced a “sea change” to the Commission’s powers. The 2006 amendments even conferred powers of appeal against orders of the competent authority to the NCMEI.
• A power of cancellation was also vested in the NCMEI to cancel a certificate granted either by an authority or the NCMEI.
• The apex court overruled a Calcutta High Court judgment which set aside the NCMEI decision to grant minority status to Cluny Women’s College.

Source:TH