Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV) or the competent authority to ensure that student body elections are conducted within 75 days, reiterating an earlier direction of the Jabalpur bench to hold elections in every college and university across the state.
Justice Pavan Kumar Dwivedi passed the order on Thursday while hearing a contempt petition filed by Arunesh Mishra against Anupam Rajan, principal secretary, and others.
The petitioner had approached the court alleging non-compliance with an Aug 3, 2026, order passed by a division bench of the High Court at its principal seat in Jabalpur.
The earlier division bench had directed the state government to conduct student body elections in every college and university in the state. The direction was issued after the state government submitted an academic calendar for the 2026-27 session, stating that September 2026 had been earmarked for student union elections.
During the hearing of the contempt petition, the HC office had raised an objection regarding the territorial jurisdiction of the Indore bench, since the original direction had been passed by the division bench at Jabalpur.
However, Justice Dwivedi observed that the earlier direction covered the entire state and that the present grievance primarily concerned alleged inaction by respondent No 4, the registrar of DAVV/competent authority, particularly regarding the failure to conduct elections at the Indore university.
Taking these circumstances into consideration, the court proceeded to dispose of the petition with a direction to respondent No 4/the competent authority to ensure compliance with the earlier division bench order within an outer limit of 75 days from the date of communication of the Nov 5 order.
