Scholarship Scam: File compliance affidavit or be present, High Court tells Punjab Chief Secretary

Chandigarh, February 17

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued a show-cause notice to the Punjab Chief Secretary and the Director, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment Minorities, after asserting that there was on the face of it a wilful disobedience of a court direction. Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan also asked them to file a fresh “compliance affidavit” or be present before the Bench. The matter pertains to post-matric scholarship scheme for financial assistance to Scheduled Caste students.

Wilful disobedience

There is a wilful disobedience of the direction issued by this court. An affidavit must be filed within 15 days. — Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan, Punjab and Haryana High Court

For the purpose of filing the affidavit, Justice Sangwan also set a 15-day deadline. The case has its genesis in a bunch of petitions filed by educational institutions a decade back. The petitioners, among other things, had contended that the colleges/institutions, under the scheme, were not to charge tuition and non-refundable compulsory fee from the eligible students. The amount was to be recovered by the institutions from the state government’s department concerned.

It was added that the reimbursement was not made on a monthly or immediate basis. Many of the students finished their course and left the college, leaving the petitioner-institutions high and dry as it could not recover the fee from them.

Taking up the matter, the Bench in August 2013 directed that the amount due from the Central government to the state government on account of eligible students’ fee under the scheme would be paid directly to the college. It would not to be deposited to the eligible students’ account. The Bench then also set a three-month deadline for disbursal of the reimbursement and relevant fee to the colleges.

Acting on the petitions alleging contempt of court filed by the institutes through counsel Sameer Sachdeva, Amitabh Tewari and Ajaivir Singh, Justice Sangwan observed successive set of affidavits showed that payment had been made to the petitioners till financial years 2016-17, 2020-21 and 2021-22. But payment for financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 had not been paid. It was despite the admitted fact that proportionate payment had already been made by the Union of India, Ministry of Justice and Empowerment Department, to the state of Punjab.