Hon’ble Rajan Roy, J.—Heard Sri Prashant Chandra, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Sri Akshat Srivastava, learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri I.H. Faruqui, appearing on behalf of opposite party No. 2, National Minority Commission, Sri Z. Jilani, learned Additional Advocate General for the State, Sri Mansoor Ahmad, Chief Standing Counsel for the State, Sri Rahul Shukla, learned Standing Counsel for the State in writ petition No. 7307/2014 and Sri S.B. Pandey for Union of India alongwith Sri Raj Kumar Singh.

2. All these writ petitions involve common question of facts and law, therefore, they have been heard and are being decided together by a common judgment.

3. Writ Petition No. 4643 (MS) of 2013 has been heard as a leading writ petition.

4. By means of these writ petitions, the petitioners, who are educational institutions claiming minority status have challenged the order passed by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Commission’) by which the application submitted by them for granting No Objection Certificate for establishing a minority educational institution and for declaration of their status as a minori