Madhya Pradesh High Court Denies Bail To Officials Over Allegedly Illegal Hike In School Fees, Sale Of Books With Forged ISBN Numbers

In FIRs registered against several school managements, principals and booksellers for arbitrary fee enhancement and sale of books with forged ISBN numbers, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has refused bail to many officials, including a Protestant Bishop of the Church of North India and a Catholic Priest.

The single-judge bench of Justice Maninder S. Bhatti held that office bearers of the Management Societies/Committees of schools cannot be granted bail at this juncture.

“…it is hereby clarified that the applications filed by the applicants who are working as the Principals only, have been allowed for the reasons mentioned in their respective orders and the bail applications filed in the capacity of members/office bearers of the Managing Committee have been rejected for the reasons mentioned hereinabove...”, the bench sitting at Jabalpur observed while denying bail to Revd. Ajay Umesh James, Bishop of the Diocese of Jabalpur, and Fr. Abraham Thazhathedathu, among others.

Background

On 27.05.2024, a slew of FIRs were registered against the accused, including several pastors, for offences under Sections 420, 409, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code. The police initiated the criminal action after Jabalpur District Collector gave a direction to that effect on 24.05.2024. The Collector also uploaded a post in Meta (formerly Facebook) inviting parents to submit their grievances regarding the schools their children studied in.

In the said post, the Collector also made it possible for the parents to verify the International Standard Book Number (ISBN). Later, complaints and enquiry reports were submitted on the subject of illegal fee hikes and fake ISBN Numbers for which the police arraigned office bearers of several school managements in Jabalpur, along with booksellers and publishers. Many accused were arrested after the registration of FIRs.

Against the said Crimes/FIRs registered, the accused preferred bail applications under Sections 439 and 438 of Cr.P.C. While denying the bail to the accused, the court observed that the FIRs and enquiry reports prima facie indicate the involvement of the school management in deriving unlawful pecuniary benefits by fee enhancement and sale of forged books.

“…The allegations are against the Management of the School and though some of the applicants are claiming that they are working as Principals but as per the records, they are members of the Management Society and are in Management committee running educational institutions, therefore, prima facie they are connected with the affairs of the School Management”, the court inferred.

In response to allegations about illegal fee hikes by many schools, even to the extent of 50% by some of them, the applicants/accused submitted that Madhya Pradesh Niji Vidyalaya (Fees Tatha Sambandhit Vishayon Ka Viniyaman) Adhiniyam, 2017 and the 2020 Rules thereunder governs the matter, and there are no penal provisions that can be invoked even if the allegations were assumed to be true.

If there are violations of the process laid down for fee increments in the 2017 Act, Section 10(2) of the Act could have been invoked by constituting a committee at the District level for refund of excess fees and for imposing a penalty upon the private school management, it was submitted by the counsels for applicants.

The amount could also have been recovered by a civil suit, and registration of FIR is outside the ambit of the 2017 Act. No offence can be registered under the 2017 Act, and the reliance on other sections of IPC in the FIRs is beyond the scope of law since there is no forgery or cheating involved, the counsels added.

One of the accused, Bhartesh Bharil, is the Secretary of Wardhman Vidya Vihar Educational Academy, a registered society running Gyan Ganga International School, Jabalpur and over 90 educational institutions across the country.

The counsel for the state primarily argued that the parents had been robbed under the garb of fee enhancement and supply of school books. The counsel specifically added that books with duplicate ISBN numbers had been seized from the accused. The school managements allegedly insisted that the students buy their study materials from specific sellers who were giving out books with forged ISBN numbers.

According to the state, the ISBN numbers found in the seized books could not be verified from the official website of ISBN. Since the investigation is progressing and the role and extent of involvement of each of the accused is yet to be determined, the state pressed for dismissing the bail applications preferred by officials of the schools.

Since the allegations in all the FIRs were similar, the court found it appropriate to dismiss the bail applications preferred by the members of various private school managements.

In the bail applications filed by the booksellers, it was contended that the schools periodically issue and display on the notice board a list of Books every academic year. None of the students are compelled to buy the books from a specific store or bookshop, the counsel appearing for them submitted.

It was stated that Raja Ram Mohan Roy National Agency allots ISBN numbers, and such numbers issued after the year 2016 are available on the online portal, the counsels pointed out. Apart from the argument that the ISBN Nos. in sample books were forged, the state also submitted that the MRPs listed on the books were exorbitant compared to the printing and handling charges incurred.

The involvement of school management with booksellers and publishers can be deduced from the books priced at about 5-10 times over the actual cost, the state government further contended.

After perusing the FIRs, the court also declined to release the booksellers on bail.

For the school management officials, Senior Counsels Brian D' Silva, Sanjay K. Agrawal and Manish Datt, along with Advocates Abhishek Dilraj, Kapil Patwardhan, Yashowardhan Jain Anshuman Singh , Harshit Bari, Mayank Sharma and Nishank Pal Verma appeared before the High Court.

For book sellers, Senior Advocate Anil Khare, Advocates Kritika Indurkhya and Shailendra Verma appeared.

The state authorities were represented by Govt. Advocate G.S Thakur, along with Bramhadatt Singh-Dy. GA for the State

Case Title: Shaji Thomas v. State of MP & Ors. and Connected Matters

Case No: Misc. Criminal Case No. 28006 of 2024 & Misc. Criminal Case No. 25064 of 2024 & Ors

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