NCMEI Has Exclusive Power To Declare Minority Status Of Educational Institutions; 1999 GO Has Lost Relevance: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday quashed an order of the UP Government rejecting Greater Noida-based Sharda University's request to be included in the list of colleges participating in the ongoing NEET Counselling. The rejection order, passed by the Director General of Medical Education and Training, Uttar Pradesh (DGME), was based on the fact that the minority status granted to the University was not in accordance with the Government Order dated August 28, 1999. A bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia held that once the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act, 2004, came into force, the Government Order of 28 August 1999 “lost relevance” and the power to declare an institution a minority institution vests exclusively in the Commission. For context, under the GO of 1999, the State Government determined certain criteria for declaring a non-government Medical/Dental/Paramedical College a Minority Institution on the basis of language and religion. Briefly, the petitioners (Sharda University and School of Medical Sciences & Research, Sharda University) claimed to be a minority institution run by the Minority Jain Community in Greater Noida. They stated that, in terms of the NCMEI Act, 2004, the petitioner was granted minority status by virtue of a certificate issued on 25 February 2025. Subsequently, in March 2025, the petitioner applied to the State of UP to record and declare it as a minority status university, which was accepted by the State Government and a certificate to that effect was granted on 7 August 2025. Following this, the petitioner moved an application to treat the institution as a minority institution and display its status and fee structure accordingly. However, on Sharda University's application, the impugned order was passed on August 10 while referring to the prescriptions in the UP Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2006, and the GO of 1999. The impugned order stated that the application would not be considered because the University had not applied for minority status under the prescriptions in the 1999 GO. Essentially, the state argued that since minority status was not applied for in terms of the prescriptions contained in the GO of 1999, no decision had been taken by the State Government; and as such, the application filed by the petitioners would not be considered. Challenging the impugned order, the petitioner contended that the process of determining and according minority status is governed by the NCMEI Act, 2004, under which Section 11 confers exclusive power on the Commission to decide all questions relating to minority status. It was argued that after the enactment of the NCMEI Act, 2004, the Government Order of 1999 “loses all relevance” and that the minority status can only be granted by the Commission. Reliance was placed on the Supreme Court's decisions in Chandan Das (Malakar) vs. State of West Bengal 2019, which in turn followed Corporate Educational Agency v. James Mathew 2017 and Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny vs. State of West Bengal 2018. For context, in these rulings, it was held that a certificate of minority status is only a declaration of an existing status, and that Section 11(f) of the NCMEI Act empowers the Commission to decide "all questions" relating to the minority status of an institution. While counsel for respondent no.4 (DGME) sought to justify the order by referring to the GO of 1999, he did not dispute the broad proposition of law laid down by the Supreme Court in the above judgments. Taking into account the prescriptions contained in the NCMEI Act, 2004 and in particular Section 11 thereof, the Court noted that it was clear that the power to declare an institution as a minority institution vests exclusively in the domain of the power conferred upon the commission. The Court specifically held that once the Act has been enacted, the Government Order loses relevance. Accordingly, the impugned order and consequential orders were quashed. Furthermore, noting that the first round of counselling was to conclude on 13 August 2025, the Court directed the DGME/competent authority to pass a fresh order on the petitioner's application by 3 PM on Wednesday, and communicate the same to the petitioner by email. The petition was allowed in the above terms.AppearancesSenior Advocate Sudeep Seth, assisted by Advocates Surjeet Kumar, Chayya Gupta and Vaibhav Sharma for the petitioners Advocate Syed Mohammad Haider Rizvi appeared for the respondent no.4.Case title - Sharda University Thru. Registrar And Another vs. State Of U.P. Thru. Chief Secy. Lko And 3 Others 2025 LiveLaw (AB) 302Case Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (AB) 302Click Here To Read/Download order

NCMEI Has Exclusive Power To Declare Minority Status Of Educational Institutions; 1999 GO Has Lost Relevance: Allahabad High Court

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