New Delhi, Aug 22 (UNI) The Supreme Court today stayed a Madhya Pradesh High Court order directing registration of an FIR against Congress MLA Arif Masood, secretary of Aman Education Society, which operates Indira Priyadarshani College, over allegations of securing and continuing college affiliation through forged documents for nearly two decades.
A bench of Justice J.K. Maheshwari and Justice Vijay Bishnoi passed the interim order, putting on hold on the High Court’s ruling that mandated FIR registration.
The Court, however, clarified that paragraph 12 of the High Court order, which allowed the college to continue functioning and stayed its de-affiliation, would remain undisturbed.
“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, while issuing notice on the college’s petition challenging the High Court ruling.
Deprecating the manner in which the High Court passed its order, Justice Maheshwari observed, “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 the order is passed, how far is it justified? How a finding of fraud can be recorded merely because the Collector has sent a letter that the 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.
Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju opposed the stay, but the bench refused to entertain his request.
In its order, a Madhya Pradesh High Court bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Pradeep Mittal had termed the matter a “shocking state of affairs of unbridled and unapologetic corruption” in the state.
It noted that Masood, “maybe politically well connected,” but directed the Bhopal Police Commissioner to register an FIR against him and other complicit officials within three days.
The Court also constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to supervise the probe and file its report within three months.
The controversy dates back to 2005, when the Education Department issued a show-cause notice to the college after finding that the solvency certificate submitted at the time of affiliation was forged.
The college argued that the fraud was committed by agents it had engaged, and later submitted a fresh solvency certificate.
Despite repeated complaints in 2005, 2011, and 2024, departmental inquiries had either closed the matter or permitted the college to continue after compliance.
The High Court order arose from a 2024 complaint and a subsequent direction of Barkatullah University to de-affiliate the college, which was challenged by the institution before the High Court.
With the Supreme Court’s stay, no FIR will be registered against Masood and others until further orders, though the college’s affiliation remains protected.
