Mizoram Secretary for Higher and Technical Education K Lalnghinglova today said that the state government would soon reply to the show-cause notice served by the Gauhati High Court regarding amendment to the Mizoram (Selection of Candidates for Higher Technical Courses) (Sixth Amendment) Rules, 2015.
The High Court yesterday stayed the operation of the amended rules after the Mizoram Chakma Students Union challenged the constitutional validity of the rules.
Lalnghinglova told PTI that the copy of the court order was received by the government today and preparations were afoot to explain the situation in which the rules were amended.
The The Mizoram (Selection of Candidates for Higher Technical Courses) Rules, 1999 was amended after the Mizo Zirlai Pawl, the Mizo students federation, protested against the selection of 38 Chakma students under Category I along with Mizo students to study medical and engineering courses in colleges across the country under Mizoram quota last year.
The Mizoram government made an amendment in the specification of Category-I of State Technical Entrance Examination (STEE) by adding a provision of 'Zo-ethnic people who are native inhabitants' to the previous definition of 'indigenous people of the state of Mizoram'.
Before the amendment, the category-I included children of local permanent residents of the state of Mizoram, the explanation of which was given as the term local permanents means those who are indigenous people of the state of Mizoram and have been residing permanently in the state resulting in the Chakmas ccoming under Category-I.
The MCSU alleged that the modification of STEE Rules was discriminatory for the minority communities of Mizoram, including the Chakmas and the modification of the definitions in the STEE Rules was nothing but a racial discrimination to deliberately exclude the Chakmas from their rightful place in Category-I.
