Govt tables minority status bill; BJP boycotts farewell session

Lucknow, May 9 (UNI) The Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh today tabled a bill to provide minority status to Maulana Mohammed Ali Jauhar University at Rampur even as the opposition BJP boycotted the farewell session of the 14th legislative assembly.

With elections for the 15th legislative assembly completed yesterday, today's sitting of the house was dubbed as a farewell session in which Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav was to address the legislators.

But the BJP this morning decided to boycott the sitting terming it as 'illegal'. The party's chief whip Lakshmi Kant Bajpai said tabling of the bill should have been left to the next assembly.

''With elections over and counting due on May 11, what is the point in tabling a bill at this moment,'' he wondered.

The Bahujan Samaj Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and Congress are already boycotting the house proceedings. Congress legislature party members have submitted their resignations to AICC president Sonia Gandhi.

The tenure of the present 14th Assembly expires on May 14 and this is perhaps for the first time in the history of the state legislature that a bill would be passed a few days before the new Assembly is expected to be constitituted.

Counting of votes for all the 403 seats, voting for which was held in seven phases, will be taken up on May 11.

Earlier,on the criticism from the opposition parties, the state government had deferred the assembly session five times. The last sitting of the house, which started on January 18, was on March 12 when the house passed the vote-on-accounts for the first four months of the current financial year.

The Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government in the year had tabled a bill in 2004 to set up the university in Rampur under government sector. But Governor T V Rajeswar had sent it for Presidential Reference. The President wrote that instead of making arrangements for a life-time pro chancellor, the government should appoint a person for five years and make the policy more transparent.

In the year 2005, the university was set up under private sector.

Therefore, today the state government also sought the house's approval to withdraw the earlier bill setting up the university under government sector.

The government has sought the clearance of the Bill in the House to provide a minority status to Maulana Mohammad Ali Jahaur Private University, where state Urban Development Minister Mohammad Azam Khan is a life-time pro-chancellor.

In the absence of BSP and Congress members, the government through an amendment in the Bill will make three-fourth majority of the Assembly for de-recognisation of the university with an approval from the University Grants Commission (UGC).

UNI