Minority institutions in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand will have to register with a new government body to continue imparting education from 2026-27.

The Pushkar Singh Dhami government on Wednesday cleared a proposal in the Assembly to set up the Uttarakhand State Minority Educational Authority to control such academic institutions, including madrasas. It will replace the Uttarakhand Madarsa Education Board.

According to the proposal, the Authority will have 12 members, including a person from the minority community as its president. The president can be a non-Muslim minority, but will be required to have 15 years’ teaching experience.

The Authority chief should also have at least five years of experience as a professor at a university. The Authority will have members from Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain communities, besides Muslims.

One member will be a retired government officer of the rank of secretary. The state government will nominate all of them.

The Authority will register a minority institution for three years and renew its
registration upon request thereafter.

The proposal states that a minority education institution should be established on its own land and all transactions should be conducted through a bank where it maintains
an account.

There are allegations that some madrasas receive funds from West Asia-based individuals and institutions.

“The institution will not force its teachers and students to participate in any religious activity…. The registration will be renewed after three academic sessions,” the proposal says.

The BJP government has been claiming for long that the madrasas force their teachers and students to attend religious events against their wishes.

The Harish Rawat-led Congress government had formed the Uttarakhand Madarsa Education Board in 2016 to regulate the Islamic education centres.

The Dhami government has fixed July 1, 2026, as the deadline for submission of
applications from the minority institutions to register themselves.

There are 452 madrasas registered with the board in the state. But chief minister Dhami has taken action against over 100 madrasas and Islamic shrines after charging them with illegal funding, spreading hatred in society and encroaching on government properties.

The government has also shut down over 50 madrasas and confiscated their properties, claiming they had encroached on government land. It has also bulldozed many madrasas and mausoleums.

Rawat said: “I don’t know why Dhami hates madrasas. He should know that the madrasas had also played a very important role in the freedom struggle.”