Educational institutions seeking minority status in Maharashtra may face changes to the approval process, with a government-appointed committee recommending supervision by a senior IAS officer, scrutiny by a multi-department expert panel and periodic review after minority status is granted. The high-level committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary B Venugopal Reddy identified gaps in the existing system. Applications are currently processed through a dedicated desk in the Minority Affairs Department, usually headed by a non-IAS officer. There is no mechanism to periodically review institutions after they receive minority status.
An exclusive report in the Indian Express mentioned that the committee was constituted after a controversy in February over the grant of minority status certificates to educational trusts running schools and colleges. Following its recommendations, the state government constituted another committee to prepare a revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The revised SOP is likely to be finalised by the end of August. The Reddy committee recommended that the approval process be supervised by a senior IAS officer, preferably the secretary of the Minority Affairs Department. It also proposed that applications be scrutinised by an expert committee comprising representatives from the Finance, General Administration, School Education, Higher and Technical Education, and Minority Affairs departments.
The panel further recommended periodic supervision of institutions after minority status is granted. Reviews would assess whether institutions continue to meet the conditions under which minority status was granted. It also proposed periodic review of whether concessions and benefits available to minority institutions are being used according to law and reaching their intended beneficiaries. The Reddy committee submitted its report to Chief Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal about a month ago. On July 15, the government constituted an implementation committee headed by Minority Affairs Secretary Madhavi Khode Chaware to prepare a framework for implementing the recommendations and draft the revised SOP.
The implementation committee comprises representatives from the Finance, General Administration, School Education, Higher and Technical Education, and Minority Affairs departments. It has held two meetings and is in the final stages of preparing the revised SOP. A senior official familiar with the process said the new SOP is likely to be announced by the end of August.
The controversy followed the uploading of certificates for 19 of 20 trusts between January 29 and February 4. A separate bulk upload between January 28 and January 30 on the MahaIT portal was attributed to technical issues, prompting allegations of irregularities. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered the approvals to be kept in abeyance pending a review, while Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar directed a detailed inquiry into the approval process. The Minority Development Department maintained that the approvals were not irregular. It stated that most certificates appearing to have been issued between January 28 and January 30 were uploaded after technical issues with the MahaIT portal were resolved. It also said hearings and approvals for 19 of the 20 trusts had been completed between December 24, 2025, and January 27, 2026.