Foreign Funding Probe: Allahabad High Court Refuses to Quash ATS Inquiry into 4,000 Unaided Madarsas

The Allahabad High Court has refused to interfere with an Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) inquiry into the funding of more than 4,000 unaided madarsas in Uttar Pradesh, holding that the initiation of an inquiry, by itself, cannot be treated as a coercive action against the institutions.

Court said that at this stage there was no reason to exercise its writ jurisdiction and left it open to the petitioners to place their response before the Inquiry Committee.

A division bench of Justice Neeraj Tiwari and Justice Vivek Saran passed the order while dismissing a writ petition filed by the Committee of Management and Teachers Association, Madris Arabia, challenging the State Government's December 9, 2025 order directing an ATS inquiry.

Senior Advocate V.K. Singh, assisted by Advocate Mohammad Ali Ausaf, appeared for the petitioners, while Senior Advocate and Additional Advocate General Manish Goel, assisted by A.K. Goel, represented the State.

Why did the madarsa management challenge the ATS inquiry?

The petitioners contended that the State had already conducted two earlier inquiries on substantially the same issues and neither had yielded any adverse findings against them. They argued that the fresh ATS inquiry was nothing more than an exercise to harass the institutions and therefore deserved to be quashed.

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The State, however, maintained that the inquiry was part of a much larger exercise and was not directed solely at the petitioners.

Additional Advocate General Manish Goel informed the court that the ATS inquiry covered nearly 4,000 institutions across Uttar Pradesh on the basis of inputs received from different sources. He further argued that the inquiry was only a fact-finding exercise and did not amount to any coercive action, while the institutions remained free to submit their replies before the authorities.

The inquiry stems from intelligence inputs alleging that several unaided madarsas had received foreign funding and that the sources of funds used for construction of large institutions required verification.

Can a court stop an ATS inquiry before any coercive action is taken?

Answering the question in the negative, the high court held that merely initiating or conducting an inquiry could not be equated with coercive action against the petitioners.

The bench observed that, "the conduct of inquiry cannot be said to be coercive action against the petitioners" and, therefore, it was "not inclined to entertain this petition at this stage."

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The judges accepted the State's submission that the petitioners would have adequate opportunity to participate in the inquiry by filing their response. Rather than interrupting the inquiry process, the court held that the petitioners should first avail themselves of that opportunity.

While dismissing the writ petition, the bench clarified that the petitioners would be at liberty to submit their reply before the Inquiry Committee. It further directed that if any reply is filed, the committee shall duly consider it before proceeding further.

The order effectively allows the ATS inquiry into the funding of more than 4,000 unaided madarsas to continue, while preserving the institutions' right to present their explanation before the authorities.

The high court, however, refrained from expressing any opinion on the merits of the allegations or the outcome of the inquiry, limiting its decision to the question of whether judicial interference was warranted at the inquiry stage.

Case Title: Committee of Management and Another v. State of Uttar Pradesh and 5 Others

Order Date: July 1, 2026

Bench: Justice Neeraj Tiwari and Justice Vivek Saran