(Prayer: Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 528 of BNSS/482 of Cr.P.C. to cal for the records relating to the FIR in Crime No.04/2025 on the file of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, CC-IV Unit, Chennai and quash the same in so far as the petitioner is concerned.)

1. The petitioner/A6 in Crime No.4 of 2025 for the offence under Sections 120(B), 167, 406, 409 of IPC and Section 13(2) r/w. 13(1)(a) of Prevention of Corruption Act (hereinafter referred to as “PC Act”), filed this quash petition.

2. The case of the prosecution is that Anna University was established in Tamil Nadu in the year 1978. In 2001 Anna University was converted to an affiliating type of University and in 2012, it was again converted to an affiliating type of University by bringing together all the Engineering Colleges in the State of Tamil Nadu under one umbrella to ensure uniform quality in Engineering education. The Centre for Affiliation of Institutions (CAI) in Anna University was established with the objective of enabling the Engineering Colleges under its jurisdiction to achieve academic excellence by guiding them to equip themselves with qualified faculty members and state-of-the-art infrastructural facilities The main objection of CAI is to verify the fulfillment of norms for grant of affiliation to the Technical Institutions throughout Tamil Nadu under the jurisdiction of Anna University, Chennai. A factual verification was done by the Officer of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on receipt of petition No.9031/2024/MISC/CC-HQ dated 29.07.2024 and in accordance with prior permission under Section 17(A) of PC Act vide letter No.351/PR10/2025 dated 26.05.2025. Thereafter, the above FIR came to be filed against 17 persons, out of them A1 to A10 are from Anna University and other accused are Private Engineering Colleges, Professors and others.

3. The case is that about 353 individuals are working as full-time faculty members in more than one Engineering College at the same point of time in the year 2023-2024. It is only possible for one person to work as a full time faculty member at one place at given point of time. Eleven colleges declared that one Dr.S.Marichamy is working in their College during the year 2023-2024, whereas it is only possible for one faculty to work in one college as a full time faculty at a given point of time Hence, Dr.S.Marichamy could work only in one college at a time and in the remaining 10 other colleges, his presence and employment reported falsely. This falsity created by Private Engineering Colleges, to gain eligibility for affiliation/accreditation process of CAI. Thus the private Engineering Colleges in connivance with private individuals and Government officials colluded with each other, with an intention to fraudulently obtain affiliation/accreditation from Anna University, thereby fabricated documents and thus, cheated the students and the University. The officials of Anna University willfully granted affiliation to ineligible colleges knowingly and also played a major role in this act of cheating. An inspection team sent by Anna University inspected some of the Colleges simultaneously on the same day and found same Professor/Lecturer working in two colleges on a given day. Reports from the Inspection team revealed the fact that private colleges were indulging in such kind of malpractices. It also revealed that Private Engineering Colleges fraudulently shown increased number of faculties to satisfy the affiliation criteria, instead of recruiting qualified full-time faculties thus involved in a massive fraudulent activity by portraying these non-existing faculties who appear only on paper and not in reality, in order to avoid salary and other expenses. The Inspection team of Anna University knowing fully that no such number of faculties existed in reality, willfully facilitated the Private Engineering Colleges by giving false reports as if they have fulfilled the required norms. This confirms the act of conspiracy between the officials of Anna University and the Private Engineering Colleges, who fraudulently created false documents. It revealed that senior officials of Anna University, CAI have colluded with the inspection team of Engineering Colleges and approved the affiliation of ineligible colleges for the year 2023-2024. A1 to A10 being the members of Inspection Committee and Standing Committee of CAI, in pursuance of conspiracy with A11 to A13 and along with A14 to A17, Private Engineering Colleges failed to conduct proper scrutiny in the prescribed manner and thus facilitated the affiliation of ineligible Colleges. Further, A1 to A3 failed to perform periodic monitoring of the compliance to AICTE norms by the Technical Institutions and willfully committed violations. Finding prima facie materials against A1 to A10 being the members of Inspection Team and Standing Committee of CAI along with the other accused with dishonest intention, entered into a criminal conspiracy during the years 2023-2024 and committed criminal misconduct and criminal breach of trust.

4. The learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner completed his graduation in B.Tech. (Textile Technology) from PSG College of Technology in the year 2000 and M.Tech. (Fiber Science and Technology) in the year 2001 from IIT, Delhi. He completed his Ph.D in Textile Technology from Anna University in the year 2007 and pursued his Post-Doctoral training at the National University of Singapore in the year 2008. The petitioner was initially appointed as a Teaching Research Associate in the Department of Textile Technology on 19.03.2002 and thereafter appointed as Lecturer in the same Department on 31.07.2004, subsequently promoted to Associate Professor on 19.04.2017 (through Career Advancement Scheme) promoted to Professor. The petitioner served as Head of the Department of Textile Technology from 10.10.2019 to 28.12.2022. He was appointed as Deputy Registrar (Personnel) on 28.12.2022 and relieved on 26.04.2023. Thereafter, the petitioner was appointed as Additional Director, Centre for International Relations with effect from 31.03.2023. He further submitted that the petitioner was appointed as Director, Centre for Affiliation of Institutions (CAI) by proceedings No.003/CAI/PR20/2024 dated 09.05.2024 and he assumed charge of his office on 10.05.2024. The petitioner had no association whatsoever with Centre for Affiliation of Institutions prior to 10.05.2024. He would further submit Anna University is the Affiliating University to grant affiliation to Engineering Colleges under the provisions of Anna University Act. The process of affiliation consists of following steps:

                     (1) Submission of application seeking affiliation in a prescribed form;

                     (2) Inspection of the College by an Inspection Committee to verify the availability and requirements for grant of affiliation and submission of a report;

                     (3) Recommendation by the Standing Committee on affiliation;

                     (4) Grant of affiliation by the Vice Chancellor.

5. The learned Senior Counsel further submitted that to coordinate the above process, University has established a Secretariat, named Centre for Affiliation of Institutions (CAI). The role of the Centre is to monitor the correspondence from these Institutions and help in the administration with regard to affiliation, starting of new courses and increases in intake of students in the existing courses, etc. The composition of the Centre comprises a Director, two Deputy Directors and four Deputy Directors designated for Madurai, Tirunelveli, Trichy and Chennai. For the academic year 2023-2024, the relevant schedule of details would be significant.