New Delhi, Aug. 25: Sister Sophie is cagey about speaking out against the Bengal government. The administrative head of Cluny Women’s College, Kalimpong, says the tension in the Darjeeling hills warrants the caution.

But the college’s cry for autonomy from state government control has found quiet support across Bengal’s minority-run educational institutions, which are accusing the “minority-friendly” Left regime of violating their rights.

The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions heard 54 cases against the state on July 22, a possible record for a single day, its officials said. The only state that beats Bengal in the overall number of complaints at the commission is communist cousin Kerala (see chart).

Most complaints relate to Bengal’s refusal to grant institutions a “minority certificate”. Under the Constitution, the certificate allows a public-funded school or college autonomy in matters such as selection of students, faculty and board members, and in fixing teachers’ salaries.

But Cluny has an even starker complaint: it says a Bengal government-run university has refused to accept a minority certificate already issued to it by the commission.

Run by a 180-year-old Christian society, the college has been affiliated to North Bengal University (NBU) since it was founded in 1998 to help educate “young tribal and village women in Kalimpong”, Sister Sophie said. It got the minority certificate last October and asked NBU to recognise it.

“The NBU refusal amounts to a violation of the Constitution,” Sister Sophie said. “I don’t want to say more... things are tense in the hills.”

The commission will hear the college’s complaint on August 27. “The hearing is critical for all minority education institutions in Bengal,” said Herod Mullick, secretary of the non-government West Bengal Minorities Co-ordination Committee.

NBU registrar Dilip Kumar Sarkar accused the state-funded college of violating norms by obtaining the commission certificate without informing the university. “The college should have approached the commission through us,” he said.

But Bengal minorities development minister Abdus Sattar said a state government-funded college could obtain minority status by approaching the commission directly. “The college has every right to obtain the minority certificate directly from the commission,” he said.

The minister could not explain the slew of complaints from Bengal. “We (his department) had set up a committee which has just recommended guidelines for granting minority status to institutions in Bengal. We believe things will improve. But there can sometimes be a misunderstanding with the higher education department,” he said.

Article 30 of the Constitution asks central and state governments to grant special leeway to minority education institutions seeking to help backward communities.

“But most minority-run institutions in Bengal prefer to approach the Centre rather than the state government. Officials here are simply not sympathetic,” Mullick said.