S.1 Short title, extent and commencement

       (1) This Act may be called the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act, 2004.
       (2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
       (3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 11th day of November, 2004.

S.2 Definitions

       In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
       (a) “affiliation” together with its grammatical variations, includes, in relation to a college, recognition of such college by, association of such college with, and admission of such college to the privileges of, a 1[***] University;
       2[(aa) “appropriate Government” means,—
       (i) in relation to an educational institution recognised for conducting its programmes of studies under any Act of Parliament, the Central Government; and
       (ii) in relation to any other educational institution recognised for conducting its programmes of studies under any State Act, a State Government in whose jurisdiction such institution is established;]
       (b) “college” means

S.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.

S.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.

S.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 incapab

S.6 Officers and other employees of Commission

       (1) The Central Government shall provide the Commission with a Secretary and such other officers and employees as may be necessary for the efficient performance of the functions of the Commission under this Act.
       (2) The salaries and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of service of, the Secretary, officers and other employees appointed for the purpose of the Commission shall be such as may be prescribed.

S.7 Salaries and allowances to be paid out of grants

       The salaries and allowances payable to the Chairperson and Members and the administrative expenses, including salaries, allowances and pensions payable to the Secretary, officers and other employees referred to in section 6, shall be paid out of the grants referred to in sub-section (1) of section 14.

S.8 Vacancies, etc., not to invalidate proceedings of Commission

       No act or proceeding of the Commission shall be questioned or shall be invalid on the ground merely of the existence of any vacancy or defect in the constitution of the Commission.

S.9 Procedure to be regulated by Commission

       (1) The Commission shall meet as and when necessary at such time and place as the Chairperson may think fit.
       (2) The Commission shall regulate its own procedure.
       (3) All orders and decisions of the Commission shall be authenticated by the Secretary or any other officer of the Commission duly authorised by the Secretary in this behalf.

S.10(a) Right of a Minority Educational Institution to seek affiliation

       (1) A Minority Educational Institution may seek affiliation to any University of its choice subject to such affiliation being permissible within the Act under which the said University is established.
       (2) Any person who is authorised in this behalf by the Minority Educational Institution, may file an application for affiliation under sub-section (1) to a University in the manner prescribed by the Statute, Ordinance, rules or regulations of the University:
       Provided that such authorised person shall have right to know the status of such application after the expiry of sixty days from the date of filing of such application.]

S.10 Right to establish a Minority Educational Institution

       (1) Any person who desires to establish a Minority Educational Institution may apply to the Competent authority for the grant of no objection certificate for the said purpose.
       (2) The Competent authority shall,—
       (a) on perusal of documents, affidavits or other evidence, if any; and
       (b) after giving an opportunity of being heard to the applicant,
       decide every application filed under sub-section (1) as expeditiously as possible and grant or reject the application, as the case may be:
       Provided that where an application is rejected, the Competent authority shall communicate the same to the applicant.
       (3) Where within a period of ninety days from the recei

S.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;
       1[(b) enquire, suo motu, or on a petition presented to it by any Minority Educational Institution, or any person on its behalf into complaints regarding deprivation or violation of rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice and any dispute relating to affiliation to a University and report its finding to the appropriate Government for its implementation;
       (c) intervene in any proceeding involving any deprivation or violation of the educational rights of the minorities before a court with

S.12(f) Bar of jurisdiction

       No court (except the Supreme Court and a High Court exercising jurisdiction under articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution) shall entertain any suit, application or other proceedings in respect of any order made under this Chapter.]
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        1. Ins. by Act 18 of 2006, sec. 6 (w.e.f. 23-1-2006).

S.12(d) Power of Commission to investigate matters relating to deprivation of educational rights of minorities

       (1) The Commission shall have the power to investigate into the complaints relating to deprivation of the educational rights of minorities.
       (2) The Commission may, for the purpose of conducting any investigation pertaining to a complaint under this Act, utilize the services of any officer of the Central Government or any State Government with the concurrence of the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be.
       (3) For the purpose of investigation under sub-section (1), the officer whose services are utilized may, subject to the direction and control of the Commission,—
       (a) summon and enforce the attendance of any person and examine him;
       (b) require the discovery and production of any document; and
     

S.12(c) Power to cancel

       The Commission may, after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard to a Minority Educational Institution to which minority status has been granted by any authority or Commission, as the case may be, cancel such status under the following circumstances, namely:—
       (a) if the constitution, aims and objects of the educational institution, which has enabled it to obtain minority status has subsequently been amended in such a way that it no longer reflects the purpose, or character of a Minority Educational Institution;
       (b) if, on verification of the records during the inspection or investigation, it is found that the Minority Educational Institution has failed to admit students belonging to the minority community in the institution as per rules and prescribed percentage governing admissions during any academic year.]
  

S.12(b) Power of the Commission to decide on the minority status of an educational institution

       (1) Without prejudice to the provisions contained in the National Minority Commission Act, 1992 (19 of 1992), where an authority established by the Central Government or any State Government, as the case may be, for grant of minority status to any educational institution rejects the application for the grant of such status, the aggrieved person may appeal against such order of the authority to the Commission.
       (2) An appeal under sub-section (1) shall be preferred within thirty days from the date of the order communicated to the applicant:
       Provided that the Commission may entertain an appeal after expiry of the said period of thirty days, if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing it within that period.
       (3) An appeal to the Commission shall be made in such form as may be

S.12(a) Appeal against orders of the competent authority

       (1) Any person aggrieved by the order of refusal to grant no objection certificate under sub-section (2) of section 10 by the Competent authority for establishing a Minority Educational Institution, may prefer an appeal against such order to the Commission.
       (2) An appeal under sub-section (1) shall be filed within thirty days from the date of the order referred to in sub-section (1) communicated to the applicant:
       Provided that the Commission may entertain an appeal after expiry of the said period of thirty days, if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing it within that period.
       (3) An appeal to the Commission shall be made in such form as may be prescribed and shall be accompanied by a copy of the order against which the appeal has been filed.
    &

S.12 Powers of Commission

       (1) If any dispute arises between a minority educational institution and a 1[***] 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)

S.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 thinks 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.

S.14 Grants by Central Government

       (1) The Central Government shall, after due appropriation made by Parliament by law in this behalf, pay to the Commission by way of grants such sums of money as the Central Government may think fit for being utilised for the purposes of this Act.
       (2) The Commission may spend such sums of money as it thinks fit for performing the functions under this Act, and such sums shall be treated as expenditure payable out of the grants referred to in sub-section (1).

S.15 Accounts and audit

       (1) The Commission shall maintain proper accounts and other relevant records and prepare an annual statement of accounts in such form as may be prescribed by the Central Government in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
       (2) The accounts of the Commission shall be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General at such intervals as may be specified by him and any expenditure incurred in connection with such audit shall be payable by the Commission to the Comptroller and Auditor-General.
       (3) The Comptroller and Auditor-General and any person appointed by him in connection with the audit of the accounts of the Commission under this Act shall have the same rights and privileges and the authority in connection with such audit as the Comptroller and Auditor-General generally has in connection with the audit of Govern

S.16 Annual report

       The Commission shall prepare, in such form and at such time, for each financial year, as may be prescribed, its annual report, giving a full account of its activities during the previous financial year and forward a copy thereof to the Central Government.

S.17 Annual report and audit report to be laid before Parliament

       The Central Government shall cause the annual report, together with a memorandum of action taken on the advice tendered by the Commission under section 11 and the reasons for the non-acceptance, if any, of any such advice, and the audit report to be laid as soon as may be after they are received before each House of Parliament.

S.18 .

       1[***]
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        1. Section 18 omitted by Act of 2006, sec. 7 (w.e.f. 23-1-2006); before omission, section 18 stood as under:
             “18. Power to amend Schedule.—(1) The Central Government if deems it fit may, by notification in the Official Gazette, amend the Schedule by including therein any other University or omitting therefrom any University already specified therein and on the publication of such notification, such University shall be deemed to be included in or, as the case may be, omitted from the Schedule.
     (2) Every notification issued under sub-section (1), shall be laid before each House of Parliament.”.

S.19 Chairperson, Members, Secretary, employees, etc., of the Commission to be public servants

       The Chairperson, Members, Secretary, officers and other employees of the Commission shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).

S.20 Directions by Central Government

       (1) In the discharge of its functions under this Act, the Commission shall be guided by such direction on questions of policy relating to national purposes, as may be given to it by the Central Government.
       (2) If any dispute arises between the Central Government and the Commission as to whether a question is or is not a question of policy relating to national purposes, the decision of the Central Government shall be final.

S.21 Protection of action taken in good faith

       No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Central Government, Commission, Chairperson, Members, Secretary or any officer or other employee of the Commission for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.

S.22 Act to have overriding effect

       The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act.

S.23 Returns or information

       The Commission shall furnish to the Central Government such returns or other information with respect to its activities as the Central Government may, from time to time, require.

S.24 Power to make rules

       (1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the provisions of this Act.
       (2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing powers, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:—
       (a) the salaries and allowances payable to, and the other terms and conditions of the service of, the Chairperson and Members under sub-section (5) of section 5 and of the Secretary, officers and other employees under sub-section (2) of section 6;
       1[(aa) the forms in which appeal under sub-section (3) of section 12A and sub-section (3) of section 12B shall be made;]
       (b) the financial and administrative powers to be exercised by the Chairperson under section 13

S.25 Power to remove difficulties

       (1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Central Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as appear to it to be necessary or expedient, for removing the difficulty:
       Provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of a period of two years from the date of commencement of this Act.
       (2) Every order made under this section shall, as soon as may be after it is made, be laid before each House of Parliament.

S.26 Repeal and saving

       (1) The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Ordinance, 2004 (Ord. 6 of 2004) is hereby repealed.
       (2) Notwithstanding the repeal of the said Ordinance, anything done or any action taken under the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this Act.

Sch .

       The Schedule
        1[***]
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        1. The Schedule omitted by Act 18 of 2006, sec. 9 (w.e.f. 23-1-2006); before omission, the Schedule stood as under:
        “The Schedule
        [See section 2(j)]
        Sl. No. Name of the University
        1. University of Delhi.
        2. North-Eastern Hill University.
        3.