By Mohd Mudassir Alam,
New Delhi: The Ministry of Law and Justice has finally given green signals to the Kishanganj campus of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Law Minister Salman Khurshid has written a letter clarifying legal standings of the government.
Khurshid, who also holds the Minority Affairs portfolio, wrote to the Human Resources Minister Kapil Sibal after the Human Chain – a Delhi based Non-Government Organisation – made important revelations through Right to Information (RTI) Act regarding delays in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Kishanganj Centre a month back.
In a letter dated September 26, 2012, Khurshid has urged the HRD Ministry to go ahead with further proceedings so that the AMU in Kishanganj can begin. Rectifying its earlier opinion given on June 29, 2012 that it might not be advisable to proceed in light of the matter being before the Supreme Court, the Minister now says, “In case of Kishanganj the delay was primarily caused by suitable land not being offered. Now that the land issue is resolved and the local people are anxious that their aspiration for good education be addressed it is fair and correct to proceed with the Campus. Besides the wholesome impact it will also prevent unnecessary political bickering at our cost.”
The opinion of Salman Khurshid has been welcomed by the Human Chain, which pressing for speeding up the work for the Kishanganj centre. Mohd Aslam, President the Human Chain expressed his gratitude. “This is a landmark decision,” he said adding, “we are highly thankful for Mr. Salman Khurshid for fulfilling his promise to resolve the legal aspect as soon as possible.”
The opinion of Law Minister has given fresh hope to the people from the Seemanchal region of Bihar. Earlier, in the month of August Human Chain representatives had met the Minister at his residence in New Delhi after coming across the fact through RTI that the approval of the President, who is also the Visitor of AMU is delayed due to the opinion of the Law Ministry. However, during the meeting with the delegation of Human Chain, the Law Minister said that his ministry had replied to the HRD Ministry without his knowledge and assured that he will personally review the legal aspects so that a final opinion can be given by his ministry to the MHRD.
The letter of Khurshid, a copy of which is with TCN adds, “I had asked for the judgments of Kerala High Court and Allahabad High Court as well as the Supreme Court proceedings along with the HRD file. On reflection I believe it is not appropriate to overlook the fact that two Centres have already been established at Mallapuram and Murshidabad”.
Referring to reservations against the establishment of the AMU centre at Kishanganj the Law Minister wrote, “I do understand that there is a part of the AMU community opposed to the establishment of these centres because it is unclear to them how the de-facto minority character will be preserved even while the de-jure status remains to be decided by the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court.” He further added, “This aspect is linked with the concern about dilution of residential character of AMU. All these matters will have to be sorted out separately and need not to cause us to make a departure from the position we have taken regarding the earlier two Centres.”
The decision of the Law Minister would clear ways for the establishment work of the AMU Kishanganj centre.
The core team of Human Chain, comprising of Tauquir Alam (JNU), Mujahid Akhtar, Salam Anwar, Tauqueer Alam, Nasim Haider, Khalid Mubashshir, Sarwar Alam, Nadeem Akhtar, Wasim Akhtar, Jahangir Alam, Nawed Shamsi, Najeeb Sagar among many others have thanked Salman Khurshid for what they termed as his ‘generous act.’
The MHRD would now review the matter and would send the recommendation to the President’s Secretariat for his approval. Only after his consent, will the AMU Kishanganj centre get the token amount of Rs. 25 crore to 50 crore for the construction work.