Dehradun, Dec. 19 -- The Uttarakhand high court has directed the state government to respond within two weeks to a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Uttarakhand Minority Education Act, 2025. The court will take up the matter for further hearing on December 30. A division bench comprising chief justice G Narendar and justice Subhash Upadhyay heard the writ petition on Wednesday. The plea was filed by the KBN Educational & Social Welfare Society, through its secretary Nizam Uddeen, which runs the Madarsa Gareeb Nawaz in Kelakheda, Udham Singh Nagar district. Counsel for the petitioner, Kartikeya Hari Gupta, argued that the new law creates an "impossibility" for minority educational institutions to function and poses a serious threat of closure. The petition challenges Sections 4, 13, 14, 15, and 16 of the Act, describing them as arbitrary and ultra vires of the Constitution of India. According to the plea, Section 4 of the law compels existing madarsas to seek re-recognition under stringent infrastructure and building norms prescribed by the Uttarakhand Board of School Education. The petitioner contended that compliance with these requirements is practically impossible for most long-established minority institutions....