On September 10, 2025, the Supreme Court quashed a cheating case against the head of an educational institute accused of submitting a forged Fire Department No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to obtain affiliation for his college. A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Joymalya Bagchi held that such an act does not constitute cheating or forgery under Section 420 IPC, as the NOC was not legally required for buildings under 15 meters in height, and thus did not induce the Education Department to grant recognition.
The appellant’s society, JVRR Education Society, operates a college in a non-multi-storeyed building (ground + 3 floors, 14.20 meters high). A complaint by the District Fire Officer led to FIR No. 99/2018 on July 15, 2018, alleging forgery of an NOC to secure SCERT recognition. Chargesheet was filed under Section 420 IPC, though the document was not recovered. The Andhra Pradesh High Court refused to quash the proceedings on April 18, 2024, prompting the appeal.
The Supreme Court, in a judgment authored by Justice Bagchi, outlined the ingredients of cheating:
- Deception by false representation known or believed to be false, and
- Fraudulently or dishonestly inducing the person to deliver property, retain it, or act/omit in a way causing damage to body, mind, reputation, or property.
It clarified: “Reading the ingredients in the backdrop of these definitions, it is evident in order to attract the offence of cheating, a person must knowingly make a false statement which would induce another to part with property or to do or omit to do a thing which the latter would not do or omit unless deceived and thereby is likely to suffer damage/harm in body, mind, reputation or property.”
Applying this, the court noted the National Building Code, 2016, exempts educational buildings below 15 meters from fire NOCs. A High Court directive had barred insistence on NOCs for such structures, with contempt proceedings for non-compliance. Thus, the alleged deception was immaterial: “Uncontroverted allegations in the charge sheet including the order in the writ proceedings, unequivocally show NOC from the Fire Department was not necessary for grant of such recognition/renewal of affiliation as the height of the appellant’s building was below 15 metres. Given this situation, the representation of the appellant that he possessed a valid NOC cannot be said to have induced the Education Department to grant recognition or renew the affiliation. To attract penal consequences, it must be shown that the false representation was of a material fact which had induced the victim to either part with property or act in a manner which they would not otherwise do but for such false representation. In the absence of such vital link between the alleged false representation and the issuance of recognition/renewal of affiliation, the essential ingredient of offence is not satisfied.”
The court also ruled that Sections 468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (using forged document) IPC were inapplicable due to lack of dishonest intent causing wrongful loss or gain. Proceedings in CC No. 303/2020 were quashed, allowing the appeal.
Case Details: Jupally Lakshmikantha Reddy v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Anr. | Criminal Appeal No. _ of 2025 (Arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 9744/2024)
Click HERE for full judgment
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