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Uttarakhand High Court
Madarsa Inamul Ulum Society vs State Of Uttarakhand & Others on 26 August, 2025
Author: Manoj Kumar Tiwari
Bench: Manoj Kumar Tiwari
2025:UHC:7555
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 835 of 2025
Madarsa Inamul Ulum Society ... Petitioner
Versus
State of Uttarakhand & Others ... Respondents
With
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 2481 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 984 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1149 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1200 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1218 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1381 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1551 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1572 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1573 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1624 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1638 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1658 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1659 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1660 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1662 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1670 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1710 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1719 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1722 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1728 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1796 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1803 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1804 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1805 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1833 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1913 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1929 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 2003 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 2025 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 2057 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 2058 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 2059 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 2060 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 2466 of 2025
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 2473 of 2025
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2025:UHC:7555
Mr. T.A. Khan, Senior Advocate, with Mr. Vinay Bhatt, Mr. Mohd.
Matlub, Mr. D.C.S. Rawat, Mr. Gaurav Singh, Mr. Shariq Khurshid, Mr.
Kaushal Pande, Mr. Mehboob Rahi, Mr. Imran Ali Khan, Mr. Ketan
Joshi and Mr. Junaid Alam, Counsel for the petitioners.
Mr. Ganesh Dutt Kandpal, Deputy AG, with Mr. Suyash Pant, Standing
Counsel, for the State.
Mr. Rahul Consul, Advocate, for the MDDA.
JUDGMENT
Hon’ble Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.
Since common questions of law and fact
are involved in these writ petitions, therefore, these
are being heard and decided together by this
common judgment. However, for the sake of
brevity, facts of Writ Petition (M/S) No. 835 of 2025
alone are being considered and discussed here.
2. Writ Petition (M/S) No. 835 of 2025 is filed
by Madarsa Inamul Ulum Society, which runs a
Maktab at Vikasnagar in District Dehradun since
2020. By means of this writ petition, petitioner has
sought the following relief:
“(I) To issue a writ, order or direction in
the nature of mandamus commanding the
respondents to permanently unseal the premises of
the petitioner-society, situated at Khata no. 422,
Khasra no. 3866 ka, Rasoolpur (Canal Bypass Road),
Tehsil Vikasnagar, District Dehradun, which have
been illegally sealed by the respondents.”
3. The grievance of petitioners in these
petitions is that the premises in which they were
running Maktab, were sealed by the district level
authorities without prior notice or without any
reason or justification, whatsoever. They further
contend that sealing was done by the authorities in
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2025:UHC:7555
the absence of any order by a statutory authority.
Learned Counsels for the petitioners submit that
right to run a Maktab, where students learn Quran
recitation, grammar and ethics, is a constitutionally
protected right and the interference made by the
state authorities with the said right of the petitioners
is unsustainable in the eyes of law.
4. A letter, issued by Deputy Registrar,
Uttarkakhand Madarsa Education Board to
Secretary, Minority Welfare Department on
4.3.2025, is enclosed as Annexure-8 to the writ
petition. From the said letter, it is revealed that
there are two category of Islamic schools, namely,
(i) Maktab, where only religious teachings are
imparted to students and (ii) Madarsa, where in
addition to religious teachings, students are
prepared for appearing in different examinations e.g.
Tahataniya/Fauquania/Munshi/Maulvi. It is further
revealed from the letter that there are 416 Madarsa,
which are registered with Uttarakhand Madarsa
Education Board (for short, ‘Madarsa Board’) and
about 88 institutions had applied to Madarsa Board
for registration as on 4.3.2025. In para 3 of the
letter, however, it is mentioned that a Madarsa,
which is not registered with Madarsa Board, falls in
the category of illegal Madarsa.
5. Learned State Counsel, on instructions,
submits that only such institutions, which are
registered and recognized by Madarsa Board alone
can use the expression ‘Madarsa’ in their name; he
submits that in Uttarakhand, in recent past, there
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2025:UHC:7555
has been mushrooming growth of institutions, which
claim to be Madarsa but are not recognized by
Madarsa Board; he submits that due to wrongful use
of the expression ‘Madarsa’ by the institutions, which
are imparting religious teachings only, the children
and parents belonging to marginalized sections are
getting confused and they are taking admission in
such institutions with the false hope that the
education received by them in such institutions will
make them eligible for employment under the
government or in the corporate sector. He further
submits that the education imparted by the
institutions, which are not registered with the
Madarsa Board will not lead them anywhere,
therefore the state authorities had to intervene to
ensure that gullible persons from marginalized
sections of the society are not misled by the false
impression created by unregistered and
unrecognized institutions.
6. It is not in dispute that State Legislature
has enacted The Uttarakhand Madarsa Education
Board Act 2016. Section 2(f) of the said Act defines
“institution” and 2(h) of the Act defines “Madarsa-
Education”, which are extracted below:
2(f) “institution” means a Madarsa or an
Oriental College established and
administered by Muslim-Minorities and
recognized by the Board for imparting
Madarsa Education;”
2(h) “Madarsa-Education” means
education in Arabic, Urdu, Persian,
Islamic-studies, Tibb, logic, Philosophy and
includes such other branches of learning
as may be specified by the Board from
time to time;”
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2025:UHC:7555
7. Section 2(j) of the Act defines the
expression “recognition” and means recognition for
the purpose of preparing candidates for admission to
the Board’s examination. Section 9(g) of the Act
provides that one of the functions of the Board
constituted under the said Act is to recognize
institutions for the purposes of its examination.
8. Uttarakhand Madarsa Education Board has
framed regulations under the provisions of the
aforesaid Act, which were notified on 12.12.2019
and are known as “The Uttarakhand Non-
Governmental Arabic and Persian Madarsa
Recognition Regulations, 2019”. The expression
“Kamil”, “Alim”, Maulvi/Munshi”, “Fauquania” and
“Tahataniya” are defined in Regulation 2(f), (g), (h),
(i) and (j) respectively. From the definition clause, it
is revealed that Tahataniya refers to elementary
classes, while Kamil means Graduation Degree of
the Board. Regulation 3 deals with recognition of
institutions as Madarsa. Regulation 4 lays down the
eligibility conditions for recognition. Regulation 6
lays down the norms regarding building, which every
Madarsa should have, and Regulation 7 lays down
the basic infrastructure, which every institution
should have. Regulation 12 provides for inspection of
the Madarsas and also for suspension and
withdrawal of recognition.
9. Learned State Counsel submits that since
institutions run by petitioners are neither registered
nor recognized by Madarsa Board, therefore, such
institutions are not authorized to use the expression
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2025:UHC:7555
‘Madarsa’ in their name and petitioners are
deliberately using the expression ‘Madarsa’ in the
name of the Maktabs, which they are running, in
order to attract more students and petitioners
thereby are playing with the future of innocent
children, who are taking admission under the
impression that education they receive in the Maktab
will open opportunity of study in modern subjects
and employment in government/corporate sector to
them.
10. Learned Counsels for the petitioners
submit that petitioners are ready to give undertaking
before the concerned Sub Divisional Magistrate that
they will neither run Madarsa nor use the expression
‘Madarsa’ in the name of institutions/Maktabs run by
them till the time their institutions are duly
registered/recognized by Uttarkahand Madarsa
Education Board.
11. Having regard to the facts and
circumstances of the case and also in view of the
undertaking given on behalf of petitioners through
their respective Counsel, writ petitions are disposed
of by providing that the premises/buildings, which
are being used by petitioners for running educational
institutions shall be de-sealed subject to petitioners
giving undertaking in the form of affidavit before the
concerned Sub Divisional Magistrate that they will
neither run Madarsa nor use the expression
‘Madarsa’ in the name of institutions run by them till
registration of the concerned institution with the
Madarsa Board and petitioners shall be permitted to
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2025:UHC:7555
run Maktab from the premises in question and no
interference with the right to run Maktab will be
made without any authority of law.
12. However, it is made clear that if
petitioners fail to abide by the undertaking given by
them or if they are found unauthorisedly using the
expression ‘Madarsa’ in the name of institution run
by them, the authorities shall be free to take
necessary action against such petitioner.
(Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.)
26.8.2025
Pr
PRABODH
Digitally signed by PRABODH KUMAR
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF
UTTARAKHAND,
2.5.4.20=3a082a00a95aff911a9559743af8f21c50602ff6eae4e61af3aeab198d46
KUMAR
2503, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND,
serialNumber=0DC111E8D8CA66E16B940EFDF806ACCC1AB588052DF6FCA58
C67F3C91957BE53, cn=PRABODH KUMAR
Date: 2025.08.27 18:35:42 +05’30’
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