West Bengal has ordered 252 madrassas to shut and served show-cause notices on about 100 others after a state-wide verification found deficiencies in approvals and basic infrastructure, officials said on Sunday.
Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Minister Kshudiram Tudu said institutions possessing the required authorisation would be allowed to continue operating, while those unable to establish their legal status or meet prescribed standards would face action. The exercise, begun in early June, covered Kolkata and districts across the state.
Tudu said the survey examined whether madrassas were authorised, the condition of their infrastructure and their management systems. He said the government initiated the verification on the directions of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to establish the number of recognised and unrecognised institutions operating in West Bengal.
“As many as 252 madrassas have been ordered to close while 100 others have been sent show-cause notices for lacking requisite approvals and basic infrastructure,” Tudu said. Officials said replies from the institutions receiving notices would be examined before any further decision was taken.
The minister said 2,132 madrassas currently had valid approval, while 2,396 were operating without approval. The figures indicate that the present closures cover only part of the unauthorised institutions identified during the wider exercise, with verification and regulatory scrutiny continuing.
Government accounts of the survey said the checks also covered administrative arrangements and registration status. Some descriptions of the verification included enrolment and funding information among the details examined, though the state’s stated grounds for the closure orders announced on Sunday centred on approval requirements and infrastructure deficiencies.
The action has also triggered a political dispute, with ministers from the ruling BJP linking the regulatory exercise to complaints about the functioning of some institutions. Panchayati Raj Minister Dilip Ghosh said authorities had received repeated complaints concerning madrassas and alleged that people arrested in extremist cases had, in some instances, worked as teachers at such institutions.
Ghosh said madrassas operating lawfully and with government permission would continue, but the government would not permit institutions to be opened indiscriminately. His wider allegations about extremist activity were political claims and were not cited by the Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department as the formal basis for Sunday’s closure decision.
BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya separately defended the action, arguing that the government had a responsibility to prevent what he described as anti-national activity in the context of madrassa education. Minister Agnimitra Paul also backed the move and said the government wanted to streamline the education system.
The opposition Trinamool Congress rejected attempts to portray madrassas collectively as security concerns. Trinamool MLA Kunal Ghosh said madrassas were part of the education system and warned against painting all such institutions with the same brush or attaching terrorism-related labels to them.
The government has not said that every unauthorised madrassa identified in the survey will automatically be closed. Its stated position is that institutions with valid approvals can function, while those served notices will be judged on the documents and explanations they submit.
The first-phase action is concentrated in several districts with substantial numbers of madrassas. Available government-linked figures cited in accounts of the verification place 44 of the 252 institutions ordered closed in Malda, 37 in Uttar Dinajpur, 32 in South 24 Parganas, and 25 each in Nadia and Murshidabad.
Most of the institutions facing closure have been described as unaided or outside the recognised system. Khariji madrassas, which generally function independently of government funding and formal state control, make up a large share of those affected, according to accounts of the survey.
The West Bengal Board of Madrasah Education separately maintains records and oversight mechanisms for recognised institutions under its jurisdiction. The state government’s present exercise is focused on determining which madrassas are operating with authorisation and whether they satisfy minimum regulatory and infrastructure requirements.
