Rs 55.71 crore scam: Charanjit Singh Channi Cabinet's decision on SC scholarship under lens

Chandigarh, April 25

A Cabinet decision of the previous Charanjit Singh Channi led Congress government not to register FIR against the erring private educational institutes in the case of wrong disbursal of SC post-matric scholarship has come under the AAP government’s scanner.

Days before the enforcement of the model code of conduct, the Channi Cabinet on January 1 had decided that criminal proceedings should not be initiated against institutes that no more face any inquiry by any government agency or commission. The waiver had been given to the institutes against which the Social Welfare Department had already recovered the wrongly disbursed scholarship amount along with 9 per cent penal interest.

Sources in the government said the Social Welfare Department has found most of 70 erring educational institutes did not qualify for the waiver given by the previous government. Now, the department has sought clarification from the office of the Advocate General (AG).

Before coming to power, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had been vocal on probing the wrongdoings in the disbursal of the scholarship.

The scam surfaced in 2019 during the tenure of former Social Justice Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot when then Additional Chief Secretary (Social Justice) Kirpa Shankar Saroj had in his report alleged a scam amounting to Rs 55.71 crore in disbursal of SC scholarships. It was disclosed that Rs 16.91 crore was wrongfully disbursed to private institutes. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is already probing the scam.

‘Most didn’t qualify for waiver’

Sources in the government said the Social Welfare Department had found most of 70 erring educational institutes did not qualify for the waiver given by the previous government. Now, the department has sought clarification from the office of the Advocate General