HC seeks Centre's reply on plea to appoint NCMEI head

The Delhi High Court today sought response of the Centre on a plea seeking appointment of a chairperson in the National Commission of Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI), a post which is lying vacant since December 2014.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal directed the government to file its affidavit on the issue before the next date of hearing on March 22.
Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appearing for the Centre, said that the matter is under consideration before the competent authority and decision is likely to be taken.
The court was hearing a plea by Mohd Khalid Ansari who has said that no chairperson has been appointed in NCMEI after the previous incumbent demitted office in December 2014.

The plea said that the commission chairperson has to be from a minority community and must also have served as a judge of a high court.
It further said that 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 NCMEI Act came into effect from November 2004 and in January 2005 the central government issued the notification identifying Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Zorastrian (Parsis) communities 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.