DEFINITION OF MINORITY AND MINORITY

INSTITUTION

Presented by

Basil mathew

3rd sem.

LL.M.

cusat

INTRODUCTION

A sociological minority is not necessarily a numerical minority, it may include any group that is subnormal with respect to a dominant group in terms of social status education, employment, wealth and political power.

The term minority group often occurs alongside a discourse of civil right and collective rights which gains prominence in the 20th century members of minority groups are prone to different treatment in the countries and societies in which they live.

A minority is a social group that does not make up a politically dominant voting majority of a total population of a given society.

Sociologist defined - MINORITY GROUP

Sociologist Louis worth defined a minority groups;

“a group of people who because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment and who there for regard themselves as a object of collective discrimination”.

RACIAL or ETHNIC MINORITIES

Every large society contains Ethnic minorities, style of life, language, and origin can differ from the majority.

The minority status is conditioned not only by a clearly numerical relation but also by questions of political power.

RELIGIOUS MINORITY

Persons belonging to religious minority have a faith which is different from that held by the majority.

Most of the countries in

the world have religious minorities.

INTERNATIONAL DEFINITION FOR MINORITY There is no theoretical legal

definition of national minorities in international law.

only in Europe is this exact definition provided by the European charter for regional or minority languages.

However national minority can be theoretically defined as a group of people within a given national state;-

Which is numerically smaller than the rest of population of the state or a part of the state

Which is not in a dominant position Which has culture, language, religion, race

etc…distinct from that of the rest of population

Whose members have a will to preserve their specificity

Whose members are citizens of the state were they have the status of a minority.

Which have a long term presence on the territory where it has lived.

INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION FOR MINORITY At the end of the first World War,

"international protection of minorities" was the great fashion…………

In accordance with the principle of protection of minorities, minorities have a right to be protected against physical extermination, "assimilation" or "absorption"; they have a right not only to preserve but to develop their specific characteristics and are entitled for that purpose to special rights, privileges and services, transcending mere equality and non-discrimination, transcending the mere guarantee of human rights, due to all, majorities and minorities.

The greatest development, from the point of view of the evolution of international law, was that certain states were bound by international obligations vis-a-vis certain of their own citizens, namely, those belonging to minorities, whereas, under general international law, their treatment belongs to the "domestic jurisdiction" of those states.

The latter has even a small bureaucratic niche in the huge apparatus of the United Nations in the form of the "Sub-Commission for the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities," a sub-organ of the Commission on Human Rights.

The Sub-Commission proposed "interim measures" for the minorities, facilities to be provided for them; proposed, in the way of implementation, a right of petition by individuals and groups; but no action was taken by the superior bodies.

It proposed also a particular study of definition and protection of political groups, and suggested that the Economic and Social Council prepare an international convention for the protection of minorities.

also dealt primarily with prevention of discrimination, particularly in education and employment, it recommended also a world-wide study by the United Nations of the present position of minorities.

THE UN SUB COMMISSION ON PREVENTION OF DISCRIMINATION AND PROTECTION OF MINORITY HAS DEFINED MINORITY AS FOLLOWS;

The term minority includes those non-document group of the population which posses and wish to preserve stable ethnic traditions or characteristics markedly different from those other rest of the population

Such minority should properly include the number of persons sufficient by themselves to reserve such tradition or charactistics; and

Such minority should be loyal to the state of which they are nationals.

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHT (ICCPR)

Article 26 as follows; All persons are equal before the law and are entitled

without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all person equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political, or other opinion national or social origin, birth or other status.

Article 27 as follows; In those state in which ethnic ,religious or linguistic

minorities exist ,person belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right ,in community with the other members of their there group ,to enjoy their own culture ,to profess and practise their own religion ,or to use their own language.

ARTICLE 29 AND 30 OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION 1950 Article 29…..protection of interest of minority(1)any section of citizen residing in any territory

of India or any part their of having a distinct language script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same

(2)no citizen shall be denied admission into any educational maintained by the state or receiving aid out of state funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.

Article 30(1) of the Constitution of India gives linguistic and religious minorities a fundamental right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

ACTS IN INDIA FOR PROTECTION FOR MINORITY

THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR MINORITY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ACT, 2004

Section 2(g) Defines; "Minority Educational Institution"

means a college or institution (other than a University) established or maintained by a person or group of persons from amongst the minorities; Minority institution act”.

THE CENTRAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (Reservation in Admission) ACT, 2006

Sec. 2 (f ) defines a minority educational institution as under;

“Minority Educational Institution” means an institution established and administered by the minorities under clause (1) of article 30 of the Constitution and so declared by an Act of Parliament or by the Central Government or declared as a minority educational institution under the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act, 2004.

RIGHT OF A MINORITY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION10. Right of a Minority Educational

Institution to seek affiliation to a Scheduled University.-

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, a Minority Educational Institution may seek recognition as an affiliated college of a Scheduled University of its choice.

(2) The Scheduled University shall consult the Government of the State in which the minority educational institution seeking affiliation under sub-section (1) is situate and views of such Government shall be taken into consideration before granting affiliation.

MINORITY COMMISSION The national commission for

minority educational institutions 3. Constitution of National Commission

for Minority Educational Institutions.-(1) The Central Government shall, by

notification in the Official Gazette, constitute a body to be known as the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions to exercise the powers conferred on, and to perform the functions assigned to, it under this Act.

(2) The Commission shall consist of a Chairperson and two members to be nominated by the Central Government.

4. Qualifications for appointment as Chairperson or other Member.-

(1) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as the Chairperson unless he,-

(a) is a member of a minority community; and (b) has been a Judge of a High Court.

(2) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a Member unless he,-

(a) is a member of a minority community; and (b) is a person of eminence, ability and

integrity.

5. Term of office and conditions of service of Chairperson and Members.-

(1) Every Member shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he assumes office.

(2) A Member may, by writing under his hand addressed to the Central Government, resign from the office of Chairperson or, as the case may be, of Member at any time.

(3) The Central Government shall remove a person from the office of Member if that person-

(a) becomes an undischarged insolvent; (b) is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment

for an offence which, in the opinion of the Central Government, involves moral turpitude;

(c) becomes of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court;

(d) refuses to act or becomes incapable of acting;

(e) is, without obtaining leave of absence from the Commission, absent from three consecutive meetings of the Commission; or

(f) in the opinion of the Central Government, has so abused the position of Chairperson or Member as to render that person's continuance in office detrimental to the public interest:

Provided that no person shall be removed under this clause until that person has been given an opportunity of being heard in the matter.

FUNCTIONS AND POWERS OF COMMISSION

11. Functions of Commission.- Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law

for the time being in force, the Commission shall-(a) advise the Central Government or any State

Government on any question relating to the education of minorities that may be referred to it;

(b) look into specific complaints regarding deprivation or violation of rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice and any dispute relating affiliation to a Scheduled University and report its findings to the Central Government for its implementation; and

(c) to do such other acts and things as may be necessary, incidental or conducive to the attainment of all or any of the objects of the Commission.

12. Powers of Commission.-

(1) If any dispute arises between a minority educational institution and a Scheduled University relating to its affiliation to such University, the decision of the Commission thereon shall be final.

(2) The Commission shall, for the purposes of discharging its functions under this Act, have all the powers of a civil court trying a suit and in particular, in respect of the following matters, namely:-

(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person from any part of India and examining him on oath;

(b) requiring the; discovery and production of any document

(c) receiving evidence on affidavits;(d) subject to the provisions of sections 123

and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), requisitioning any public record or document or copy of such record or document from any office;

(e) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents; and

(f) any other matter which may be prescribed.

13. Financial and administrative powers of Chairperson.-

The Chairperson shall exercise such financial and administrative powers as may be vested in him by the rules made under this section:

Provided that the Chairperson shall have authority to delegate such of the financial and administrative powers as he may think fit to any Member or Secretary or any other officer of the Commission subject to the condition that such Member or Secretary or officer shall, while exercising such delegated powers, continue to act under the direction, control and supervision of the Chairperson.

WHETHER EXTRA PROTECTION AND PRIVILEGES TO MINORITY SHOULD BE ALLOW….?

It is true that it is only the minorities, whose right to establish and administer educational institution is mentioned in article 30(1) it does not follow the same is denied to the majority communities,.

Recognition and protection of minority right under a legal framework has two fold objectives firstly to prevent state from being oppressive against the minorities as in a democratic set up government is run by majority, secondly to provide the minority a protective zone whereby they can preserve their separate identity while contributing in national development and progress.

SUPREME COURT ON MINORITY EDUCATION

A Society or Trust consisting of members of a minority community,or even a single member of a minority community, may establish an institution. The position has been clarified by the Supreme Court in State of Kerala vs. Mother Provincial AIR 1970 SC 2079, the Supreme Court has observed:

 

“Establishment means bringing into being of an institution and it must be by a minority community. It matters not if single philanthropic individual with his own means, institution or the community at large founds the institution or the community at large contributes the funds. The position in law is the same and the intention in either case must be to found an institution for the benefit of a minority community by a member of that community. It is equally irrelevant to this right that in addition to the minority community, others from other minority communities or even from the majority community can take advantage of these institutions.”

In St. Stephen’s College vs. University of Delhi (1992) SCC 558,

The Supreme Court has declared the St. Stephen’s College as a minority educational institution on the ground that it was established and administered by members of the Christian Community.

T.M.A. Pai Foundation vs. State of Karnataka (2002) 8 SCC 481

That a minority, whether linguistic or religious, is determinable only by reference to demography of the State and not by taking into consideration the population of the country as a whole. The application of numerical test with reference to religion in states like Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and Nagaland makes Sikhism, Islam and Christianity, the majority religions in those states respectively.

T.K.V.T.S.S. Medical Educational andCharitable Trust vs. State of Tamil Nadu AIR 2002 Madras 42

Held that “once it is established that the institution has been established by a linguistic minority, and is administered by that minority, that would be sufficient for claiming the fundamental right guaranteed under Article 30(1) of the Constitution.”

RE KERALA EDUCATION BILL

Article 30(1) Of the Constitution, which was a necessary concomitant to Art. 29(1) and gave the minorities the right to establish and administer their institutions, did not define the word 'minority', nor was it defined anywhere else by the Constitution, but it was absurd to suggest that a minority or section envisaged by Art. 30(1) and Art. 29(1) could mean only such persons as constituted a numerical minority in the particular region where the educational institution was situated or resided under a local authority.

Court upon certain questions relating to the constitutional validity of some of the provisions of the Kerala Education Bill,1957, which had been passed by the Kerala Legislative Assembly

four questions referred to this Court, the first and third impugned

cl.3(5) read with cl.36 and cl.15 of the Bill as being discriminatory under Art. 14,

the second impugned cls. 3(5), 8(3) and cls. 9 to 13 Of the Bill as being violative of minority rights guaranteed by Art. 30(1) and

the fourth, cl.33 of the Bill, as offending Art. 226 of the Constitution.

STATE CONTENTED

As soon as we reach Art. 30 (1) learned counsel for the State of Kerala at once poses the question: what is a minority ? That is a term which is not defined in the Constitution. It is easy to say that a minority community means a community which is numerically less than 50 per cent, but then the question is not fully answered, for part of the question has yet to be answered, namely, 50 percent of what ? Is it 50 percent of the entire population of India or 50 percent of the population of a State forming a part of the Union ?

"There is yet another aspect of the question that falls for consideration, namely as to what is a minority under Art.30(1)

The state contends that Christians, a certain section of whom is enthusiastic in its objection to the Bill on the allegation that it offends Art.30(1), are not in a minority in the State. It is no doubt true that Christians are not a mathematical majority in the whole State. They constitute about one-fourth of the population; but it does not follow there from that they form a minority within the meaning of Art.30 (1).

Learned counsel for the minority institutions; obligation of the State towards

the minority communities. We the people of India have

given unto ourselves the Constitution which is not for any particular community or section but for all.

Its provisions are intended to protect all, minority as well as the majority communities.

There can be no manner of doubt that our Constitution has guaranteed certain cherished rights of the minorities concerning their language, culture and religion.

PUSHPAGIRY SOCIETY V. STATE OF KERALA

Minority for the purpose of this Act means a community belonging to a religious or linguistic minority as may be determined by Government taking the State as a unit.

CONCLUSION The minorities are to be a group of people

who are culturally linguistically scripturally different from the rest and are identifiable

It is for the up keeps for their uniqueness that the constitution strives to protect and promote them.

The above aspect of these group of people are sought to be conserved by allowing them to setup and maintain education institute to promote their language culture or script.

The minority groups are also permitted under law to set up their own educational institution.

Determining factors for according

recognition and conferring status as unaided minority professional college or institution.-

A minority unaided professional college or institution established and maintained by

any linguistic or religious minority shall be accorded recognition and conferred status of an unaided minority professional college or institution only if it satisfies all the following conditions of demographic equivalence between the minority community to which the college belongs and the non-minority community of the State taken as a single unit

namely:

(a) the population of the linguistic or religious minority community in

the State which runs the professional college or institution shall be lesser than fifty percent of the total population of the State.

(b) the number of professional colleges or institutions run by the linguistic

or religious minority community in the State to which the college or institution belong shall be proportionately lesser than the number of professional colleges or institutions run by the non-minority community in the State.

(c) the number of students belonging to the linguistic or religious

minority community to which the college or institution belongs undergoing professional education in all professional colleges or institutions in the State shall be proportionately lesser than the number of students belonging to the non-minority community in the State.

THANK YOU