The inquiry stems from a petition filed by Advocate Anshuman Singh Rathore seeking repeal of Section 2 of the RTE Act 2009 and the Madrasa Education Board Act 2004.
Mohammad Alamullah | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has raised pertinent questions over the composition of the Madrasa Board and the exemption of madrasas from the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
Hearing the case wherein objections were raised to these arrangements, the court asked the Uttar Pradesh government to clarify why the chairman and other members of the Madrasa Board are required to be Muslims. The court is set to reconvene on January 23 for the next hearing.
The inquiry stems from a petition filed by Advocate Anshuman Singh Rathore seeking the repeal of Section 2 of the RTE Act 2009 and the Madrasa Education Board Act 2004. The petition implicates the Madrasa Board along with the central and provincial governments.
The high court raised specific questions about the mandate for the Madrasa Board chairman to be a Muslim educationist and other members to be from the Muslim community. Additionally, the court sought an explanation from the central government regarding the exemption of Madrasas and Vedic schools under the RTE Act, 2009.
Advocate Afzal Ahmad Siddiqui, representing the UP Madrasa Board, and Advocate Mahinder Bahadur Singh, representing the Teachers Association Madrasa Arabia Uttar Pradesh, appeared before the court. Singh noted that the court questioned the requirement for Muslim representation in government institutions and whether officers from other minority communities could also be appointed.
The court also sought clarification on the educational qualifications of assembly members involved in selecting Madrasa Board members.
The Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board Act, 2004 mandates the chairman to be an eminent educationist in traditional madrasa education, with members representing Sunni and Shia communities.
Advocate Mahinder Bahadur Singh explained the court’s concern about the selection of Madrasa Board members by legislators and raised questions about their educational capacity for such selections. He highlighted that when madrasas in Uttar Pradesh were initially under the Education Department, the need to separate them and form a separate board was questioned.
Dewan Sahib Zaman Khan, the general secretary of the Teachers Association Madrasa Uttar Pradesh, emphasised that madrasas and Sanskrit pathshalas are established under the same chapter of the Education Code as the Institute of Ancient Languages and receive grants. The association argues that questioning only madrasas under the education code is unjustifiable.
