The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorist Squad's probe into the funding of more than 4,000 unaided madrassas being run in the state.

A bench of Justice Neeraj Tiwari and Justice Vivek Saran dismissed a petition moved by the Madrasa Management Committee and the Teachers' Association, Madrasas Arabia.

For context, the petitioners had sought the quashing of an order of December 9, 2025, by which the State Government had initiated an inquiry into the funding of their institutions through the ATS.

The petitioners argued that the earlier 2 inquiries were conducted on almost the same grounds and that nothing adverse was found against them. It was next submitted that the present probe is nothing but an attempt to harass the petitioners; therefore, the inquiry is bad and liable to be set aside.

Additional Advocate General Manish Goel, assisted by Advocate AK Goel, however, submitted that the inquiry is not only against the petitioners but also against 4000 institutions in the State, based on inputs received from different sources.

It was further contended that the inquiry was not a coercive action and that the petitioners had full liberty to submit a reply.

Considering the stance of the State Government, the bench dismissed the petition with the following observation:

"...Court is of the firm view that conduct of inquiry cannot said to be coercive action against the petitioners. Therefore, Court is not inclined to entertain this petition at this stage"

The bench, however, clarified that the petitioners would be at liberty to submit a reply before the Inquiry Committee and in case any reply is submitted, the same shall be considered.

The probe against the madrassas was initiated following intelligence inputs alleging the receipt of foreign funding. The inputs flagged the construction of large-scale institutions across various locations without clear financial documentation or verifiable sources of income.

In related news, in January this year, the Allahabad High Court held that there is no provision of law that enables the District Minority Welfare Officer to close the operations of an unrecognised Madrasa in the State of Uttar Pradesh.

Senior Counsel VK Singh, assisted by Advocate Mohd. Ali Ausaf, appeared for the petitioners.

Case title - Committee Of Management And Another vs State of UP and 5 others 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 348

Case Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 348

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