Higher edu students of madrassas face uncertain future after SC order; demands to accommodate them
Lucknow (PTI): After the Supreme Court declared higher education degrees awarded by the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Board unconstitutional, there is a demand to accommodate the about 25,000 students who are currently pursing these courses in any other recognised university.
The state government has also said it will find a way out after considering all the legal aspects of this matter.
In an order on November 5, the Supreme Court declared the Kamil and Fazil degrees -- equivalent to graduation and post-graduation degrees -- awarded by the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Board Board unconstitutional, saying it was in conflict with the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act.
Zaman Khan, the General Secretary of the Teachers Association Madaris Arabia Uttar Pradesh, said the court's decision has created a difficult situation for the thousands of current students as the board will not be able to conduct exams for these courses now.
"The order of the Supreme Court is supreme. But the government must find some way to deal with the situation that has arisen so that the future of the students studying in the Kamil and Fazil courses of the Madrasa Board does not remain dark," he told PTI said on Sunday.
Minority Welfare Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar said the government will definitely find a way out by studying the SC order and discussing its various legal aspects.
On the question of whether the students studying in the Madrasa Board's Kamil and Fazil courses will be linked to any other university, the minister said, "All aspects will be considered and only after that the government will take any decision."
Madrasa Board Registrar R P Singh said about 25,000 students are studying in the Kamil and Fazil courses run by the board currently, and whatever decision the government takes will be followed.
Meanwhile, former Madrasa Board member Qamar Ali said that the Board's Kamil degree had the status of graduation and Fazil degree had the status of post-graduation, but even earlier they were not recognised for appearing in competitive examinations.
These degree-holders would get jobs only in madrasas which has also ended after the Supreme Court order, he said, demanding the current students be given a chance in recognised universities.
The Madrasa Board had earlier given a proposal to the government to accommodate the students of its Kamil and Fazil courses in the Lucknow-based 'Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Urdu-Arabic-Persian University' but no decision was taken on it, he said.
It is not clear from the order that from when these degrees will be considered unconstitutional, but the government should take steps to affiliate these students with a UGC-recognised university, he said.
There are about 25,000 madrassas in Uttar Pradesh -- 16,500 recognised by the State Madrasa Board and 8,500 unrecognized. A total of 560 of them receive grants from the state government.
In its order on October 5, the SC upheld the constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board Act, 2004, overturning an Allahabad High Court order of March 2024 which declared it unconstitutional.
However, the SC declared the provisions pertaining to higher education (Kamil and Fazil degrees) were unconstitutional (meaning the Madrasa Board cannot offer these degrees) as they are in conflict with University Grant Commission (UGC) Act.
"The UGC Act governs the standards for higher education and a state legislation cannot seek to regulate higher education, in contravention of the provisions of the UGC Act," it said.
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BharatPe fraud case: Delhi HC quashes lookout circular against Ashneer Grover, wife
New Delhi, Nov 12: The Delhi High Court has ordered cancellation of a lookout circular (LOC) issued against Ashneer Grover, the former MD of payment app BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, noting that the FIR lodged against them over allegations of cheating and forgery has already been quashed.
Justice Sanjeev Narula passed the order on Monday after the court was informed that another bench of the high court quashed the FIR on the same day.
The FIR was quashed by Justice Chandra Dhari Singh after considering a plea moved by the Grovers stating that they have arrived at a settlement with the fintech company.
In his order, Justice Narula said, "Although the copy of the order (quashing the FIR) is not available as of now, the aforenoted fact is not disputed by the counsel for the parties.
"In light of the fact that the underlying FIR has been quashed, the LOC issued by respondent No. 3 (Bureau of Immigration), in the opinion of the court, will not survive."
The LOC was issued by the Bureau of Immigration at the instance of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in view of the investigation against the Grovers in the cheating and forgery FIR.
The court was hearing a plea moved by Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover seeking quashing of the LOC issued against them in connection with the investigation into the cheating and forgery case.
"Accordingly, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the respondents to cancel the LOC against the petitioners in their records," the court noted.
Earlier, the Grovers claimed that they were informed about the LOC for the first time when they were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on November 16, 2023, while they were scheduled to travel to the US.
After being detained, they were informed that the LOC was operational from November 6, 2023.
In May last year, the EOW filed an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri, and others under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 and 468 (forgery), and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint was lodged by BhartPe, the fintech unicorn.
In its complaint, BharatPe alleged that Grover and his family caused damages to the tune of Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri, and destruction of evidence.
Madhuri was the head of controls at BharatPe before she was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities.
Subsequently, Grover resigned as the chief executive officer of the fintech firm in March 2022.
