The Maharashtra government’s minority affairs department has suspended the process for granting minority status to educational institutions amid a controversy involving the rapid approval of such status for 73 institutions shortly after the passing of former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who previously oversaw the minority affairs portfolio.<\/p>\n
This halt in proceedings will remain in effect until an inquiry led by senior IAS officer B. Venugopal Reddy is completed. A decision regarding the resumption of the process will be made following Reddy’s report, which is expected to be finalized within the next two weeks.<\/p>\n
A senior official from Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar’s office confirmed that while the current process is on hold, the minority status granted to the aforementioned institutions remains in place and has not been revoked. Sunetra Pawar is responsible for the minority development department.<\/p>\n
The official noted that the investigation focuses on the status allocation to these institutions, and there may be a need to reassess the policy framework that governs how educational institutions qualify for these benefits. \u201cThe policy should prioritize the students from the minority community rather than merely benefiting the trusts that operate the institutions,\u201d the official stated.<\/p>\n
The Maharashtra government had previously established a government resolution on May 27, 2013, which laid out the guidelines for granting minority status to educational institutions.<\/p>\n
The controversy arose when it was reported that minority certificates were issued to several institutions within three days following Ajit Pawar’s death. The Indian Express later reported that, according to the Minority Development Department, 19 out of the 20 societies and trusts that received certificates between January 29 and February 4 had undergone hearings and received approvals during the period from December 24, 2025, to January 27, 2026, while Ajit Pawar was still in office. These societies and trusts are responsible for operating a total of 73 educational institutions.<\/p>\n
Officials explained that the bulk issuance of certificates between January 28 and 30 was the result of rectifying IT issues that had previously delayed the generation of digitally signed certificates. In a communication to the chief secretary, the department refuted claims suggesting that the approval process was arbitrary, calling such reports unfounded and misleading.<\/p>\n
In response to the unfolding controversy, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered that the approvals be temporarily suspended pending a thorough review, while Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar has called for a detailed inquiry into the process.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Milind Shenoy, the Deputy Secretary of the Minority Development Department, whose digital signature appears on all the uploaded certificates, has been transferred for administrative reasons in light of the controversy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Maharashtra government’s minority affairs department has suspended the process for granting minority status to educational institutions amid a controversy involving the rapid approval of such status for 73 institutions shortly after the passing of former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who previously oversaw the minority affairs portfolio. This halt in proceedings will remain in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[78,40,144],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-cities","category-india","category-in-mumbai"],"yoast_head":"\n