HC tells Centre to set up panel for certifying minority institutions

The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday directed the Union government to set up a committee to certify linguistic minority status to schools following the Central syllabi.

Disposing of a batch of petitions filed by Orange Education Society and others, Justice L Narayana Swamy directed the institutions to admit students under RTE Act for the academic year 2017-2018.

The petitioner’s counsel S Basavaraj had contended that when the court had directed the schools to approach the Central government to get their certification for linguistic minority status, there was no body established yet. Following the submission, the judge passed an order directing the Union government to set up a committee.

The court has passed an order previously saying that those schools with state syllabi will have to approach the body set up by the state government to claim their linguistic minority status and those schools following the Central syllabi have to approach a designated officer at the Centre to claim their linguistic minority status.