Madrassa Board, Uttarakhand Government and administrative officials could not provide the rules and regulations regarding action against Madrassas
The information provided to Nadeem Uddin under the Right to Information Act revealed
Madrassa Board, Uttarakhand Government and administrative officials could not provide the rules and regulations regarding action against Madrassas.
The information provided to Nadeem Uddin under the Right to Information Act revealed
Kashipur, Aug 28
After a hue and cry made by the BJP state government, more than 700 madrasas in Uttarakhand were investigated on the orders of the Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in the year 2025 as per the media reports published in newspapers. The state government has also abolished the Madrassa board replacing it with a regulatory authority to register all the minority educational institutions, by bringing in a legislation in the recently concluded monsoon session of the state assembly. The Chief Minister has also claimed as a major achievement of his government.
However, interestingly, the Uttarakhand Madrasa Board, Minority Welfare Department of Uttarakhand Government and District Minority Officer of Udham Singh Nagar District, Public Information Officer of District Magistrate and Sub-District Magistrate Offices failed to provide any rules and regulations in this regard.
This was revealed by the information provided to Nadeem Uddin, an advocate, under the Right to Information Act (RTI). Senior RTI activist, a resident of Kashipur, had sought information related to the details of rules and provisions related to investigation and sealing of alleged illegal Madrassas in Uttarakhand by submitting information application to Public Information Officers of Uttarakhand Madrasa Board, Minority Welfare Department of Uttarakhand Government and Minority Welfare Officer Offices of Udham Singh Nagar district.
In reply to his query, Section Officer/Incharge/Public Information Officer of Minority Welfare Department of Uttarakhand Government, Pramila Tamta, through her letter no. 13, Public Information Officer/Deputy Registrar of Uttarakhand Madrasa Education Council, Mohammad Obedullah Ansari, through his letter no. 02 and District Minority Welfare Officer Udham Singh Nagar and on his transfer, Public Information Officer/Senior Administrative Officer of District Magistrate Office and Sub-Divisional Magistrates of the district provided information/replies.
But despite appealing to the Deputy Director, Minority Welfare Directorate regarding the order of District Minority Welfare Officer, no officer could provide a copy of the rules and provisions related to inspection and sealing of Madrasas. Uttarakhand Madrasa Education Council in its reply and District Minority Welfare Officer of Udham Singh Nagar and representatives of District Officer Office and Sub-Divisional Magistrates in appeal before Deputy Director, Minority Welfare Directorate, Hira Singh Basera, admitted that no such rules and provisions are available with them. According to the information provided to Nadeemuddin by the Minority Welfare Department of the Uttarakhand Government, a letter number 1002 dated 19 December 2024 was written by Secretary Shailesh Bagoli to the Principal Secretary Minority Welfare Uttarakhand Government, mentioning the publication of news titled “Investigation of Madrasas running without registration” in a daily newspaper dated 19 December 2024, expecting the Chief Minister to investigate and provide a report as soon as possible.
Most interestingly, taking action on that newspaper report, the Principal Secretary of the Minority Welfare Department, L Fanai, in a letter number 783 dated 23 December 2024, ordered all the District Magistrates to constitute a high-level investigation committee at the district level to investigate the Madrasas running without registration and complete the investigation of the case as soon as possible and provide the investigation report within a maximum of 10 days. In compliance with the above order, the District Magistrates inspected the madrassas and provided the report to the Principal Secretary Minority Welfare.
According to the investigation reports of 8 districts made available to Nadeemuddin, a total of 680 madrassas were inspected in which 410 were registered/recognised and 270 were unregistered/unrecognised. There is no mention of any suspicious or illegal activity in any madrassa in the report of any of those districts.
According to the investigation report, out of the total 93 madrassas investigated in Dehradun district, 36 were found registered/recognised and 57 were unregistered/unrecognised, out of 237 madrassas in Udham Singh Nagar district, 112 were recognised and 125 were unrecognised, out of 328 madrassas in Haridwar district, 259 were recognised and 69 were unrecognised, out of 3 madrassas in Pithoragarh district, 1 was recognised and 2 were unrecognised, out of 16 madrassas in Almora district, all were unrecognised, out of total 3 madrassas in Tehri Garhwal district, 2 were recognised and 1 was unrecognised. Whereas, no madrasa was found operating in Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts.
