Uttarakhand Assembly clears Minority Educational Institutions Bill amid Oppn uproar

Dehradun, Aug 20 (IANS) The Uttarakhand Assembly on Wednesday cleared the Minority Educational Institutions Bill, which seeks to regulate all the minority institutions in the state by setting up a new authority, amid chaos and uproar by the Opposition members.

The bill, introduced in the House a day ago, witnessed heated debate between the treasury and Opposition benches on Wednesday, with the latter creating a ruckus over alleged rigging in recently held Panchayat elections and also cornering the state government over poor law and order.

Before the Assembly proceedings started, many Congress leaders also staged a sit-in outside the Assembly.

With the passage of the Minority Educational Institutions Bill, the benefits of minority status will now not remain limited to the Muslims but will also extend to the Sikh, Jain, Christian, Parsi and Buddhist communities.

Currently, the minority status is granted to only those pertaining to Muslim educational institutions.

A newly formed Uttarakhand State Minority Education Authority (USMEA) will now replace the existing Uttarakhand Madrassa Board, which will oversee giving recognition and setting standards for minority institutions.

The legislation, marking a new precedent in the state as well as the country, also saw the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress sparring, with the latter questioning the intent and motive of the Pushkar Dhami government.

The BJP countered the charges by claiming that this would give fair treatment to all the minorities and stated that the Opposition was resisting the repeal of the Uttarakhand Madrasa Board Act, brought by the Harish Rawat government in 2016, because of its Muslim vote bank.

Notably, Uttarakhand is the first state to introduce a law to implement Universal Civil Code (UCC) for regulating personal laws, including marriages, divorce and adoption.

Like the UCC, the Minority Educational Institutions legislation proposes to bring all minority community-run institutions under the ambit of one common regulatory authority. Until now, only institutions run by the Muslim community were recognised as minority educational institutions.

By July 1, 2026, all madrasas running in the state will have to seek affiliation from the Uttarakhand Education Board and then apply for minority status with the Uttarakhand State Authority for Minority Education (USAME). It's only after they meet the criteria and stipulated conditions, the institution will be granted minority educational status; else, all the unrecognised madrasas will head towards closure.

--IANS

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