The State Government would distribute free laptops to meritorious students, who successfully cleared annual Plus Two examinations in various streams, by December 31 this year, an official source said on Monday.

A total of 15,000 meritorious students in 12th standard examination would get free laptop under the Biju Yuva Sashaktikaran Yojana, a youth empowerment initiative launched by the State Government. A list of the students would be released in July.

As per the revised guidelines of the Biju Yuva Sashaktikaran Yojana, the students’ relatives can also receive the laptops in case of their absence during the programme. They can inform the authorities about the reason of their absence through a letter signed by the chairmen of the concerned colleges. It is mandatory to submit the identity documents of the relatives who would receive the laptops.

A committee headed by the district Collector would be constituted to monitor the distribution process of laptops within the scheduled period of time. The Government has set up 30 nodal centres for distribution of the laptops.

The laptops would be sent by the IT Department to the nodal centres. The students can lodge complaint with the college authorities if they would have any issue regarding the list. The students can be added to a supplementary list if the queries are proved to be true, official sources said.

The supplementary list of students including the students who would not have received the laptops would be released after December. The students in the supplementary list would be distributed laptops by January 31, 2019, the Higher Education Department has written to 822 degree and 29 autonomous colleges in a letter.

Sources in the Higher Education Department said the officer at a nodal centre would verify the certificates of the students before distribution of laptops. The college authorities would have to approve the certificates along with furnishing the college identity cards and admit cards provided by the Council of Higher Secondary Education.