الهند: الاعتراف بالجامعة الوطنية الإسلامية رسميًّا

أعلنت إحدى اللجان الإدارية الحكومية بـ"الهند" الاعتراف بكون الجامعة الوطنية الإسلامية مؤسسة جامعة مركزية، وهو ما يسهم في جعل أكثر من 50% من مقاعد مرشحي الجامعة من نصيب المسلمين.

ويأتي هذه الاعتراف بعد مضي 90 عامًا على إنشاء الجامعة، التي طالبت بالاعتراف الرسمي خلال الأعوام القليلة الماضية.

إضافة إلى ذلك أكد مسؤولو الجامعة أن الجامعة التي أنشأها المسلمون وقاموا بإدارتها طيلة هذه المدة - ستظل تحتفظ بهويتها كمؤسسة تعليمية إسلامية في ظل حماية المادة الثلاثين من الدستور الهندي، التي تكفل للأقليات إنشاء مؤسسات تعليمية دينية أو لغوية.

الخبر من مصدره الأصلي:

A quasi-judicial commission has declared the Jamia Millia Islamia a minority institution, the first central university to be accorded such a status.

The ruling means the university can reserve up to 50 per cent of its seats for Muslim candidates. It will also be exempted from the quotas for aspirants from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes.

The order by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions addresses a question that has been vexing the 90-year-old institution for the past few years. The issue had also caused some rift within the UPA government that prompted the intervention of the Prime Minister.

Although Jamia has always been associated with the minority community, it was never spelt out in the law concerned that the varsity was a minority institution because such a concept did not exist when it was set up in 1920. This meant that the 27 per cent OBC reservation rule for general category institutions applied to Jamia, too, although it had not implemented the quota yet.

However, the commission’s three-judge bench headed by Justice M.S.A. Siddiqui said: “We hold that the Muslim community established this university and managed it all through. It never lost its identity. We declare it as a minority educational institution covered under Article 30 of the Constitution.”

Article 30(1) says that all minorities, whether based on religion or language, have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

“Jamia was established for the purpose of keeping Muslims’ education in Muslims’ hands, entirely free from external control… Jamia was established by Muslims and for Muslims, though non-Muslims could be admitted,” the judgment said.