Cabinet nod to scrap U’khand madrassa board from July 1

Dehradun: Uttarakhand cabinet on Thursday cleared replacing Uttarakhand Madrassa Board with Uttarakhand State Minority Education Authority from July 1. According to the decision taken by the Dhami govt earlier this year, recognition for 400 madrassas with classes 1 to 8 will be given at the district level, while 52 madrassas with classes 9 to 12 will need Uttarakhand Board’s approval.Notably, Uttarakhand Minority Education Act 2025 had been notified in Oct 2025 under the minority welfare department, which provided for recognition of educational institutions established by minority communities, facilitating and promoting academic excellence of institutions, and other related matters.Speaking to TOI, home secretary Shailesh Bagauli said, “The arrangement under the Act earlier included a provision for minority institutions operating from classes 1 to 12 to obtain affiliation from the Vidyalaya Shiksha Parishad, Ramnagar.

Currently, there are 452 madrassas in the state, of which around 400 madrassas impart education only from classes 1 to 8.”According to officials, at the request of these madrassas, the affiliation of minority institutions operating from classes 1 to 8 will now be determined by the district-level education committee or govt-designated competent authority.Now, minority institutions operating from classes 9 to 12 will be required to obtain affiliation from Vidyalaya Shiksha Parishad, Ramnagar, officials said, adding that the cabinet granted approval to implement this arrangement, and the govt will bring an ordinance soon for the change.

The cabinet also cleared a forest-border beekeeping policy to boost incomes and reduce human-elephant conflict, and revised Kumbh work sanctions — upto Rs 1 cr by the mela officer, upto Rs 5 cr by Garhwal commissioner, and works beyond Rs 5 cr by the govt.The cabinet’s proposed beekeeping policy will enhance the livelihoods of people in the state, promoting self-employment, reducing human-elephant conflict, and exploring the potential of beekeeping on the boundaries of forest areas -- 70% of the state’s land area is forest-covered, which presents immense potential for beekeeping on the boundaries of forest areas.Proposal on uniform determination for posts earlier created in transport department, under which the uniform for enforcement drivers has now been determined in line with drivers of the police department, got cabinet nod.Under the Uttarakhand State Legal Services Authority (Amendment) Rules 2026, in view of the increasing cases related to soldiers, District Sainik Kalyan Adhikari will now be nominated as an ex-officio member of the District Legal Services Authority.

Additionally, the cabinet approved the inclusion of acid attack victims under free services provided by legal services authority.The cabinet decided to amend the Uttarakhand Minor Minerals Concession Rules 2023 under the industrial development department, increasing the previously fixed royalty rate on minerals from Rs 7 to Rs 8 per quintal.A VAT rate of 6% had been fixed under the previously passed excise policy.

In accordance with the excise policy, the commercial tax department had placed a proposal to amend its rules to incorporate the 6% VAT rate, which was approved by the cabinet.The cabinet further granted permission to the transport department for the proposal to purchase 250 buses.The govt had earlier granted permission to the transport department to purchase 100 buses. With GST rates having now reduced from 28% to 18%, the cabinet has granted permission to the transport department to purchase 109 buses, instead of 100.Amending the Uttarakhand Subordinate Forest Service Rules, 2016, the cabinet also granted permission to raise the educational qualification for post of Van Daroga from intermediate to graduate level, to set the age limit for Van Daroga at 21 to 35 years, and to set the age limit for Van Aarakshi at a minimum of 18 years to a maximum of 25 years. The annexures of the uniformed service rules previously passed by the personnel department will also remain applicable in this regard.Under the personnel department, the cabinet approved that if a waiting list for a single cadre in various departments has been received within one year, further action should be taken accordingly, and a clear SOP should be formulated for the future.The cabinet also granted permission for the promulgation of the Uttarakhand Sanskrit Education Academic Cadre Service Rules, 2026.Also, under the Public Works Department, recruitment was carried out in 2023 for 2,010 posts of junior engineer (JE), in which seven posts were to be filled from the differently-abled category. However, at that time, candidates from that category could not be found, and the posts were filled from the general category. As per the HC judgment, posts for differently-abled persons were to have been kept vacant from 2023 itself.

Since these posts could not be kept vacant, the cabinet granted permission to the proposal to create these posts with effect from 2023.