Read Time: 09 minutes

In a plea alleging mass corruption in examination and declaration of results for various medical colleges of the State, Madhya Pradesh High Court recently directed the State Government to constitute a High-Level enquiry Committee headed by a retired Judge of the High Court to enquire into the matter.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Vishal Dhagat also directed that such enquiry committee shall be constituted before October 11 and shall complete enquiry within a period of 30 days.

This committee will also have onboard a Senior Police Officer of the rank of Inspector General of Police or above and three experts drawn from the disciplines of Academics, Computer & Information Technology and Forensic Science.

The task of conducting the exams of medical colleges was outsourced by M.P. Medical Science University, Jabalpur and its Controller of Examination to a firm named M/s Mindlogix Infratec Limited.

Allegedly Mindlogix Infratec Limited was already facing criminal cases at Agra on allegations of preparing huge number of fake mark-sheets.

The petitioner students had alleged that on one hand their results have not been declared since last two years whereas some of the students, who were actually absent in the examination, have been declared pass.

“In an internal enquiry also, the Company has been found guilty of large-scale irregularities, affecting career of several medical students of the State”, they had argued.

However, no action has been taken against the company yet, students had informed.

They had also said that therefore, they have been asking for an enquiry by the retired High Court Judge or by CBI or by an SIT, into the allegations of functioning of the M.P. Medical Science University and the role of M/s Mindlogix Infratec Limited since starting however, till now the State Government could not take a final call on the question of getting a high-level inquiry.

To be noted, the Vice Chancellor of the University himself was directed by the State Government on June 1, 2021 to get an enquiry conducted through Registrar of the University.

On the basis of that enquiry on July 5, 2021 University terminated the agreement with the company and black listed it. Dr. Vrinda Saxena, the Controller of Examination was also removed from her position.

However, Deputy Registrar Dr. Tripti Gupta, who actually bursted the whole racket, was also repatriated to her parent department. Even the Chairman of the Enquiry Committee Dr. J. K. Gupta, Registrar of the University, was also transferred and repatriated to his parent department.

Taking cognizance of all these facts, Court slammed the State stating that despite being asked several times, the State has not been able to tell court its decision about the High Level enquiry and even the action taken report filed Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh only states that there were some procedural and technical defects in the enquiry conducted by the then University Registrar, therefore, no final decision could be taken.

Court also took note of the so-called five members “High Level Committee" constituted by the University to look into the matter and said, 

"Surprisingly, however, the Committee, which the respondents have described as “High Level Committee”, is the one headed by an officer of the rank of Additional Collector, Jabalpur with four technical experts."

Therefore, considering the gravity of the matter and seriousness of allegations of large scale irregularities, court held that Government’s proposal to get this matter enquired into by such Committee cannot be approved.

Court refused to call this committee a “High Level Committee” saying “The committee that should be entrusted with the task of holding enquiry should be such, which includes persons of high caliber, eminence and reasonable stature” and directed the State to form the High-Level committee as directed now.

Court also directed that till the new high-level committee submits its report, in the meanwhile, the respondents-University and M/s Mindlogix Infratec Limited will keep the soft data on their data base server/computer system fully preserved, so as to facilitate fair and independent enquiry.

Ordering thus, court further directed for the matter to be next listed on October 25, 2021. In connected matters, Interim order will continue till the next date of hearing.

Case Title: Ankita Agrawal Vs the State of Madhya Pradesh and Others