Clarify on SC/ST scholarship rules, Centre told

A division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad, while dealing with a plea seeking release of scholarship and maintenance allowance for the SC and ST students, said the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had withdrawn its direction issued in 2010 to all private institutions not to charge any tuition fee from eligible SC students in a letter dated May 3, 2018. But conditions of eligibility of students to avail scholarships under ‘Centrally sponsored scheme of post matric scholarships to students belonging to SC for studies in India (PMS-SC)’ with effect from 2018 reads different.

The plea had sought for a direction to the Director, Social Justice and Empowerment to immediately release Rs 1,762.62 crore, being the scholarship and maintenance allowance for the SC students and Rs 31.2 crore for the ST students enabling them to pursue their higher education. 

Based on this, the Central Government Standing Counsel K S Jeyaganesh had submitted that up to the academic year 2015-16, scholarship and maintenance allowance for the SC students, have been disbursed. But in so far as scholarship and maintenance allowance for the academic year 2016-17, out of Rs 1,524.01 crore, a sum of Rs 743.24 crores has been disbursed through the State Government and a sum of Rs 8.22 crore is yet to be disbursed.

He further submitted that the administrative sanction has been obtained for disbursement of Rs 822 crore and that for the academic year 2017-18 up to September 10, 2018, a sum of Rs 584.47 crore has been disbursed.

However, which him noting that the particulars are only with reference to scholarship and maintenance allowance paid to SC students and that the Ministry of Tribal Welfare deals with the disbursement of scholarship and maintenance allowance for the ST students, the bench suo motu impleaded the Union Ministry of a Tribal Welfare and directed the registry to send notice seeking its response.

The bench on directing all the five agencies roped in the case to file counter affidavits to the writ moved, with the details of the scholarship and maintenance allowance granted to SC/ST students, both in government and self-financing colleges, posted the case for further hearing to 

October 01.