Institute of Legal and Management Studies

The Supreme Court today stayed the Madhya Pradesh High Court direction for registration of an FIR against Congress MLA Arif Masood, the secretary of the governing body of Aman Education Society which operates Indira Priyadarshani College, for allegedly securing and continuing the affiliation of the college through forged documents for nearly two decades.

A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi passed the order, putting on hold para 13 of the High Court order, which directed registration of the FIR against Masood (and others). It also issued notice on the college's petition against the High Court order.

"Issue notice. In the meantime, further action pursuant to the direction as issued in para 13 of the impugned order shall remain stayed", the bench ordered. It also orally clarified that para 12 of the impugned order, which allowed the college to continue functioning and stayed its de-affiliation, would remain as it is.

Deprecating the High Court's order, and refusing to entertain Additional Solicitor General SV Raju's request against stay of the direction, Justice Maheshwari said, "This can't be permitted...High Courts are not deciding all this...Somewhere we have to stop...This is not permissible for High Courts. We have seen so many orders. Finding is recorded on the first date and order is passed - how far is it justified? How a finding of fraud can be recorded merely because Collector has sent a letter that record cannot be found? If High Courts start doing like this in Article 226, in every case, you must be ready, your officers must be ready for that".

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and Advocate Sumeer Sodhi appeared for Masood.

Notably, in the impugned order, the High Court noted that 'Arif Masood maybe politically well connected' and deemed it appropriate to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to oversee the investigation in the FIR. The SIT was directed to file a report within 3 months.

Terming the case as a 'shocking state of affairs of unbridled and unapologetic corruption existing in the State', a bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Pradeep Mittal said:

"For the alleged offence committed by Mr. Arif Masood in connivance with the Officers who permitted him to place two fraudulent documents one after the other, deserve to be proceeded against. In this regard, this Court directs Police Commissioner, Bhopal to register an FIR against Mr. Arif Masood and such other persons, who may appear to have been complicit from the side of the State in facilitating Mr. Arif Masood in this alleged offence, within three days from the date of this order being uploaded on the website of the Court".

Background

The petitioner, Indira Priyadarshani College, approached the High Court challenging an order of June 9 by the Barkatullah University to de-affiliate the college. In 2005, the Education Department issued a show cause notice to the petitioner-college on the basis that the solvency certificate submitted by it at the time of seeking affiliation was found to be forged.

The college, in its reply, said that it had outsourced the task of getting a solvency certificate and the agents misled the petitioner. As such, the forged document pertaining to the property, which was given to show solvency, was on account of fraud played by the agents. On 27.09.2005, a second show-cause notice with similar allegations was issued to the petitioner.

The State permitted the college to submit fresh documents and therefore, the college submitted a fresh solvency certificate.

In September 2005, one Mohammed Haseeb filed a complaint against the college. A show cause notice was issued, and after a detailed inquiry, the department decided not to intervene in view of the same being a subject matter of a case pending before the High Court.

Another complaint was filed in January 2011 by one Arif Aqeel against the college, but after another inquiry, the department opined that no case was made out against the college.

In December 2011, an application was submitted by the college to shift the location from 'Khanugaon' village to 'Pura'. All formalities, including spot inspection, were conducted, and the college was granted permission.

In July 2024, a third complaint was filed against the college. The respondent authorities sought documents from the petitioner. After an inquiry, a recommendation was made to de-affiliate the college.

Subsequently in May 2025, the education department directed the University to de-affiliate the college.

Case Title: INDIRA PRIYADARSHANI COLLEGE BHOPAL Versus THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND ORS.