SC stays NCPCR recommendation to end madrasas funding

The Supreme Court, in an interim order passed on Monday, stayed a National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) recommendation asking all states and Union Territories to discontinue funding for Madrasa Boards.

A bench, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, agreed to examine the plea filed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind and issued notice to the Centre, the NCPCR, and states of Uttar Pradesh and Tripura.

In its impugned directive, the NCPCR advised Chief Secretaries of states and Union Territories that non-Muslim children currently enrolled in madrasas be moved to mainstream schools in line with the Right to Education (RTE) Act of 2009.

The Jamiat's plea, filed through advocate Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, said that not only does the "pervasive state action" violate the fundamental rights of the minorities running such madrasas, but there is "absolutely no authority in law to conduct such a blanket exercise as well neither with the states nor the Union, and certainly not with the NCPCR".

It referred to a letter issued by the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, under the instructions of the NCPCR, requiring all the District Magistrates to conduct a detailed investigation of all government-aided/recognised madrasas in the state which admit non-Muslim children, and, getting all such children immediately admitted to schools for receiving formal education; and to conduct mapping of unmapped madrasas and ensure admission of students studying therein into other schools for receiving formal education.

Similarly, the plea said that in Tripura, the Director of Elementary Education, has directed all District Education Officers to comply with the instructions of the NCPCR and resultantly, letters were issued to madrasas requiring them to shift their students to nearby schools.

"The impugned action, discriminatory and unconstitutional as it is, has been passed without any reasons, is whimsical in nature, and selectively targets institutions of traditional pedagogy run by a single minority community, being guided by political motives, and thus warrants interference by this Hon'ble Court, being in violation of Articles 14, 19(1)(g), 21, 25, 26(a), and 30(1) of the Constitution," the petition said.

The NCPCR, established under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act of 2005, is tasked with safeguarding the rights of children across India.