A notice has been issued by the Basic Education Department of Uttar Pradesh informing madrasas that those found operating without registration will have to pay the penalty, which is Rs 10,000 per day, as stated in a report by PTI.
This notice was issued to over a dozen madrasas found to be operating without proper registration and they were even asked to share relevant documents. The madrasas have been asked to produce the documents within three days of receiving the order or face action.
As per the officials, there are about 24,000 madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, of which, 16,000 are recognised and 8,000 are unrecognised.
"If the madrasas are found operating without recognition, they will be fined Rs 10,000 per day," the notice read.
Taking strong exception to the notice served to madrasas, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, an organisation of Indian Muslims, called the education department's order "unlawful".
Maulana Zakir Husain, Secretary of the Uttar Pradesh unit of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, said the madrasas in the state are "being harassed by serving them illegal notices only to target a particular community".
"The madrasas are providing free of cost education to the students, they will not be able to pay the fine of Rs 10,000 per day," Husain said.
Meanwhile, according to a senior official in Lucknow, about 4,000 madrasas in the state are under the scanner for receiving foreign funds.
The Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to look into 4,000 madrasas, most of them run along the Indo-Nepal border, which are allegedly receiving funds from abroad, the official said.
The SIT will examine if the money received by them was used in any illegal activities, such as terrorism or forcible religious conversion, the official added.
