Taking cognizance of reports about more than two lakh Scheduled Caste students being forced to drop out of colleges due to non-payment of scholarships by the State Government to these Colleges, Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit has sought a comprehensive report in the matter.
The Governor’s intervention came a week after Punjab Chief Minister had ordered a probe into the alleged irregularities in the post-matric scholarship scheme that had surfaced during the previous Congress regime in the State.
Purohit has written a letter to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and has sought a comprehensive report on the non-disbursal of scholarships to the SC students at the earliest.
“If it is correct, it would be a most reprehensible violation of constitutional rights of SC students and grave injustice to them,” read the Governor’s letter.
The issue came to light a day before with the National Commission for Scheduled Caste alleging that around two lakh SC students in Punjab dropped out of colleges as the previous Congress-ruled State Government failed to pay them the scholarship money despite getting funds from the Centre.
The national panel has now sought an explanation from the State Government by next Wednesday on why the money has not been paid to colleges despite the payment of dues by the Centre.
“We have taken suo motu cognizance in the matter. There have been many complaints from SC students that they are not being allowed in colleges as the government has not paid their fees. There were around three lakh SC students who benefited from the scheme in 2017 and the number dropped to 1-1.25 lakh in 2020. When we asked the State Government, they said these children dropped out,” NCSC chairperson Vijay Sampla had said a day before.