A criminal complaint filed before the Delhi Police has sought registration of an FIR against Jamia Millia Islamia Registrar Prof. Md. Mahtab Alam Rizvi and other persons involved in his appointment as Associate Professor, subsequent promotion as Professor and eventual appointment as Registrar of the Central University.
The complaint, accessed by OpIndia, alleges cheating, forgery, use of forged documents, falsification of records, criminal conspiracy and abuse of official position. The allegations are based on documents obtained through the Right to Information Act, official records and material said to be available in the public domain.
The complaint has been filed by Bhupendra Pal Singh Chamar, the International President of the World Dalit Council (Viswa Dalit Parishad) and an alumnus of Jamia Millia Islamia. He has asked the police to investigate not only Rizvi but also officials and members of the university’s Screening Committee, Selection Committee and Executive Council who processed or approved his appointment despite questions over his eligibility.
At the heart of the complaint is the allegation that Rizvi did not meet the mandatory eligibility requirements applicable to the post of Associate Professor under the University Grants Commission’s 2010 regulations. The complainant specifically disputes the manner in which Rizvi’s previous professional experience was treated for the purpose of satisfying the prescribed eligibility criteria.
Dispute over MP-IDSA experience
One of the principal issues raised concerns Rizvi’s experience at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), formerly known as the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. According to the complaint, the experience claimed did not constitute teaching or research experience equivalent to that required for the post of Assistant Professor, which the complainant says was required under the applicable UGC regulations.
The annexures, viewed by OpIndia, contain an RTI application seeking information from the Defence Ministry concerning Rizvi’s employment at MP-IDSA. The application asks whether the institute had a classroom-teaching component, what positions Rizvi held there, the nature of his work, whether his position was teaching or purely research, whether he was assigned classes, and what his pay scale was when he joined and when he left.
A separate RTI request sought information on Rizvi’s work experience and pay scale before he joined IDSA as a Research Assistant in Level 6 under the Seventh Central Pay Commission on June 21, 2007. It also sought details regarding his service between November 2016 and February 2017, including whether he was on deputation, the leave he took, when he applied for leave or a no-objection certificate to join Jamia, whether there was any break in his service between November 2010 and February 6, 2017, and his final pay level at the time of resignation.
The records show that the MP-IDSA RTI request was disposed of on October 9, 2025, with a reply from the institute cited as letter No. MP-IDSA/A/792/2009. The complaint relies on this documentary trail as part of its broader contention that Rizvi’s employment history requires verification.
Questions over experience in Ethiopia
The complaint also raises questions regarding experience that Rizvi claimed at the State Civil Services University in Ethiopia. The complainant questions the period of the engagement, continuity of service and, crucially, whether such experience could legally be counted towards the mandatory eligibility requirements for the Associate Professor post.
The complaint does not merely characterise these issues as differences in interpretation of service records. It alleges that discrepancies in the candidate’s qualifications and experience may have resulted in material facts being concealed or misrepresented before the competent authorities.
Alleged inconsistencies in CVs
Another significant allegation concerns different versions of Rizvi’s Curriculum Vitae hosted on Jamia Millia Islamia’s official website. The complaint says these versions contain material inconsistencies relating to qualifications, experience and service particulars. According to the complainant, these inconsistencies raise the possibility of suppression, alteration or manipulation of material facts in connection with the appointment.
The allegation is particularly significant because the recruitment process itself required applicants to provide documentary evidence supporting their qualifications and experience. The Jamia recruitment material attached to the complaint states that candidates were required to submit attested copies of degrees, diplomas and marksheets, with references to experience and published work. It further states that applications without necessary supporting documents or properly attested experience certificates were liable to be rejected.
The same recruitment instructions stated that applicants were required to submit an Academic Performance Indicator score card backed by documentary evidence and that applications without the required API documentation would not be considered for shortlisting.
UGC rules cited in the complaint
The annexures include the UGC Regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education, 2010.
For the post of Associate Professor, the regulations specify, among other requirements, a good academic record with a PhD, a Master’s degree with at least 55 per cent marks and a minimum of eight years of teaching and/or research experience in a university, college or accredited research institution/industry, excluding the period spent obtaining the research degree. The regulations also refer to contributions to the subject through publications and educational innovation.
The complaint’s central argument is therefore that the character and duration of Rizvi’s previous employment need to be examined against these specific requirements rather than simply counted as generic professional experience.
The regulations also prescribe a formal selection process. The annexures state that Selection Committees are to be constituted in accordance with the UGC framework, while the recruitment process is required to assess candidates on their merits and credentials.
Selection and subsequent career progression
Jamia’s recruitment advertisement of July 12, 2016 invited applications for several teaching posts, including an Associate Professor position at the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution. The advertisement identified one Associate Professor post at the centre.
The annexures accessed by OpIndia contain Executive Council records concerning the selection process. The March 10, 2017 minutes of the Jamia Executive Council record consideration and approval of recommendations arising from Selection Committee meetings held on February 1 and 2, 2017. It specifically records the direct recruitment of faculty members under the MMAJ-Academy of International Studies, including the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution. The table identifies Md. Mahtab Alam Rizvi as the selected candidate for one Associate Professor, Non-Plan post at the Nelson Mandela Centre.
This is important because the complaint does not allege merely that Rizvi was subsequently promoted without scrutiny. It contends that the foundation of his academic career at Jamia itself requires investigation. The complainant argues that if the initial Associate Professor appointment was obtained through suppression of material information or false declarations, the subsequent promotion to Professor under the Career Advancement Scheme and eventual appointment as Registrar would also require examination.
The complaint specifically points to the role of officials who processed the appointment. It asks investigators to examine whether members of the Screening Committee, Selection Committee, Executive Council and other responsible officers knowingly approved the appointment despite the alleged eligibility problems.
From Professor to Registrar
The allegations assume greater significance because Rizvi subsequently became Registrar of Jamia Millia Islamia, a statutory position with substantial administrative, financial and regulatory responsibilities. The complaint describes the Registrar’s office as a statutory public office and argues that questions surrounding the eligibility and recruitment of its occupant therefore cannot be treated merely as a private employment dispute.
A Jamia notification dated March 12, 2025 records that Prof. Md. Mahtab Alam Rizvi assumed charge as Registrar on March 12, 2025, following an appointment letter dated March 11, 2025. The notification was circulated to senior university officials as well as the Ministry of Education, UGC and other authorities.
The complainant argues that an alleged irregularity at the entry point could have consequences extending years later into a statutory office. The complaint therefore seeks an examination of the complete chain, from the original application and supporting documents to the Selection Committee’s deliberations, subsequent Career Advancement Scheme promotion and eventual appointment as Registrar.
Police investigation sought into records.
The complaint emphasises that many of the records necessary to establish or disprove the allegations are not in the complainant’s possession. These include original application forms, experience certificates, recruitment correspondence, digital records, website archives, Selection Committee proceedings, Executive Council proceedings, service books and electronic communications.
The complainant argues that these records are held by Jamia and other public authorities and therefore asks the police to secure and preserve them. The complaint specifically warns of the possibility of alteration or tampering with electronic records and official documents and seeks immediate investigation.
It invokes provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, alleging offences including cheating, forgery, use of forged documents, falsification of records, furnishing false information to a public authority, criminal conspiracy and abuse of official position. The complaint repeatedly qualifies these as allegations requiring investigation and says that the offences would arise if the alleged acts are established.
What the complaint seeks
The complainant has ultimately requested registration of an FIR and strict legal action against Rizvi and other persons found to have participated in the alleged wrongdoing. The complaint also asks that investigators examine the role of university officials who may have facilitated, approved or failed to properly scrutinise the appointment.
The central issue, therefore, is not simply whether Rizvi’s professional experience should be counted differently for academic eligibility. The complaint alleges a potentially much wider failure of the recruitment and verification process, one involving candidate records, institutional scrutiny and decisions taken by university authorities.
However, the allegations contained in the complaint are not themselves a finding of criminal guilt. Whether Rizvi actually failed to meet the applicable eligibility criteria, whether any information was deliberately suppressed or falsified, whether the CV discrepancies arose from administrative reasons, and whether any university official knowingly facilitated wrongdoing are matters that would have to be established through examination of the original records and, if an investigation is ordered, through due process of law.
What the documents do establish is that the complainant has placed a substantial documentary record before the police and has sought a criminal investigation into Rizvi’s appointment history. The annexures include the relevant UGC eligibility framework, Jamia’s recruitment material, Executive Council records concerning the 2017 selection, a 2025 notification recording Rizvi’s assumption of the Registrar’s office, and RTI correspondence concerning his previous employment. The complaint now puts the focus on whether these records, when independently verified against the original files held by Jamia and other authorities, disclose merely an administrative or eligibility dispute, or the criminal misconduct alleged by the complainant.
