The Delhi High Court on Tuesday recalled its order taking on record an affidavit of the NDA Government saying Jamia Millia Islamia was not a minority institution, and striking off the response of the erstwhile UPA Government supporting its minority status.
The high court recalled its March 13 order saying it had “erronously” not noted that there were other parties in the matter who could have been affected by the proceedings. It allowed the plea of the university Vice Chancellor, its Registrar and the teachers’ association that the present Government has not established any ground for replacement of the existing affidavit of August 29, 2011.
They said that neither were they served a copy of the Centre’s recent application to take on record the fresh affidavit, nor were they heard before the disposal of the plea.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said there was merit in the submission and added “we have erronously not noted that there were other respondents, who could have been affected by the outcome of the proceedings”. The court said it was trite that all the affected parties were required to be heard before passing an order and recalled its March 13 order.
On March 13, the court accepted the prayer made by the Centre’s counsel and permitted them to file a fresh counter affidavit which was submitted on March 5. It said that 2011 affidavit supporting the minority status, shall stand struck off from the record.