The Maharashtra government is preparing to change the process for granting the status of a minority educational institution to schools and colleges. A high-level committee has recommended tighter checks on applications, verification by multiple government departments, and regular reviews even after the status has been granted.
The proposed changes follow controversy over the approval of 75 educational institutions as minority institutions within a short period in January this year.
Additional Chief Secretary B Vengopal Reddy headed the committee reviewing the existing system. It examined weaknesses in the current process and areas where the government believes stronger administrative supervision may be needed.
Following the committee’s recommendations, the state government has formed another committee to prepare a revised standard operating procedure for granting minority status.
According to a senior government official, the new guidelines are expected to be issued by the end of August.
Under the proposed system, scrutiny of applications would go beyond an initial examination of documents.
Several government departments may be involved in verifying information submitted by educational institutions and the trusts or societies that run them.
The proposed process could include separate verification of the institution and its managing trust or society, along with supervision by senior government officials.
One of the key recommendations is that institutions should not simply receive minority status and remain outside further scrutiny indefinitely.
The committee has recommended periodic reviews after minority status is granted. These reviews would examine whether an institution continues to meet the conditions required for minority status and whether there have been changes in its management or ownership that could affect its eligibility.
The proposed system would therefore place checks at three stages: before minority status is granted, during the approval process and after the status has been awarded.
Questions Over 75 Approvals
The demand for a revised system gained momentum after questions were raised over a large number of minority-status approvals issued this January.
The issue came into focus after Maharashtra’s then Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who also held the minority development portfolio, died in a plane crash on 28 January.
Government records reportedly showed that 75 educational institutions received minority status between 28 January and 2 February.
The first certificate was signed at 3.09 pm on 28 January, according to the available details. Seven institutions were granted minority status on that day, with the number reaching 75 over the following three days.
The speed at which the approvals were issued led to questions about the process.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis subsequently stopped the approvals and ordered an inquiry into the matter.
Later reporting also found that the 75 approvals carried digital signatures of the same official at the Mantralaya level.
The institutions were spread across at least 14 districts, including Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Yavatmal, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Buldhana, Latur, Nashik, Sangli and Raigad.
In some cases, several schools operated by the same trust were granted minority status through a single certificate.
The approvals were made under Article 30(1) of the Constitution and Section 2(g) of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act, 2004.
What Minority Status Means
Article 30(1) of the Indian Constitution gives religious and linguistic minorities the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
Minority institutions can have different legal and administrative rights from other educational institutions in certain areas.
This makes the process of granting minority status an important administrative and legal matter.
The government is now seeking to strengthen the process so that institutions applying for the status can be checked more carefully and those that receive it can continue to meet the required conditions.
The proposed periodic reviews could also allow authorities to examine whether the management structure, ownership or other circumstances of an institution have changed after minority status was granted.
The controversy has also had an impact on school admissions.
In March 2026, 20 trusts were reportedly directed to temporarily bring their schools into the Right to Education admission system while the government reviewed their minority status.
As their minority status was placed on hold pending the inquiry, the exemption available to minority institutions from certain RTE requirements did not apply to them during that period.
The schools were consequently required to reserve 25 per cent of seats under the RTE Act for children from economically weaker and disadvantaged sections.
The development showed that minority status can have direct consequences for the way schools are regulated and how admissions are conducted.
Closer Govt Oversight
The proposed changes indicate that Maharashtra wants a more closely monitored system for granting minority status.
The revised process is expected to include greater scrutiny at the application stage, verification from multiple government departments, supervision by senior officials and periodic checks after approval.
The government has not indicated that minority institutions as a category are being questioned. Instead, the proposed changes are aimed at the procedure through which institutions receive and retain minority status.
For minority educational institutions, however, the changes will be important because Article 30 provides constitutional protection for religious and linguistic minorities to establish and administer institutions of their choice.
The challenge for the government will be to strengthen verification and prevent misuse of the system while also protecting the constitutional rights of genuine minority institutions.
The new standard operating procedure is expected by the end of August. Its provisions will determine how Maharashtra balances administrative scrutiny with the legal protections available to minority educational institutions.
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