No files signed, no certificates issued on day of Ajit Pawar's death, says Maharashtra Minority Department

Maharashtra Minority Department denies issuing certificates or signing files on Ajit Pawar's death day amid minority status controversy.

Maharashtra Minority Development Department has asserted that no new files were digitally signed and no minority status certificates were distributed on January 28, 2026 the day Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash.

The clarification comes amid a controversy over the alleged hasty grant of minority status to 75 educational institutions in the days following the death of Ajit Pawar, who was handling the Minority Development Department at the time.

Minority status confers significant regulatory benefits on educational institutions, including exemptions from certain provisions of the Right to Education Act, such as the 25% reservation for economically weaker sections, along with grants and greater administrative autonomy in appointments and internal management. Pawar and four others died in a plane crash in Baramati in Pune district on the morning of January 28, 2026.

In a detailed statement posted on X late Monday night (February 23, 2026), the Minority Development Department said that on January 28, no digital signatures were affixed on any new files or certificates through the Department. “No certificates were handed over on that day,” it maintained.

The Department stressed that the entire process of granting minority status is conducted online and in a transparent manner, strictly in accordance with provisions laid down in the Government Resolution dated May 27, 2013. “Applications are scrutinised and certificates issued only after district-level verification,” it said.

Rejecting reports suggesting irregularities or hurried processing of applications, the Department claimed such allegations were "completely baseless" and amounted to a distortion of facts.