HC seeks Centre's reply to PIL on headless NCMEI

The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought the Centre's response on a PIL over the non-appointment of chairperson in National Commission of Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI), the post which has been lying vacant since December 2014.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal asked the Ministry of Human Resource Development to respond by March 22, the next date of hearing.

The plea was filed by journalist Mohd Khalid Ansari, who said the commission has remained headless for two years as no chairperson has been appointed till date.

In December 2014, the Chairperson of the commission demitted office upon expiry of his tenure.

The commission hairpeeson has to be from a minority community and must also have served as a judge of a High Court, said the plea.

"Without the chairperson, all orders passed by the commission are liable to be set aside as being of no legal consequences and void ab initio. The other members of the commission are not judicially trained of appreciating the finer nuances of the law," said the plea filed through advocate Aly Mirza.

The NCMEI Act came into effect from November 2004 and in January 2005 the central government issued notification identifying the community of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zorastrians (Parsis) as minorities for the purpose of the act.

The commission was established to protect and safeguard the educational institutions which are established by the minorities in India and also to ensure rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

--IANS

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