Read Time: 10 minutes

The Allahabad High Court single Judge bench of Justice Sangeeta Chandra sought instructions from the District Minority Welfare Department, Lucknow with regard to the pendency of an application of a petitioner who had applied for post matric scholarship and after their matter had been verified and forwarded by the University, allegedly remained pending before the District Minority Welfare Deartment.

The plea was filed before the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) challenging the alleged inaction for disbursement of scholarships by Social Welfare Department of Uttar Pradesh.

The petitioners in the present plea are four students from Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University.

“On 15th January 2021, Petitioners 2, 3 and 4 submitted applications to the University, which forwarded the applications of the Petitioners 2, 3 and 4 for renewal of the scholarship, as they had been beneficiaries in the previous academic session as well, hence, they didn’t require to apply afresh. The Petitioner 1 on the other hand had applied afresh for the grant of the Scholarship of Post Matric other than Intermediate.  Keeping in purview the financial conditions and fitting in belongingness of minority categorisation of the Petitioners in the Scholarship of Post Matric other than Intermediate, they were well deserved for the scholarship grant in order to continue their studies without any lumbering manacle or constraints.”
– Excerpt from plea  

The counsel for the petitioner students of RMNLU, Adv. Mohd. Kumail Haider had contended that “such inaction by the respondents is causing financial impairment to the petitioners, who belong to the minority community, despite fulfilling the criterion eligibility for the scholarship for minorities, dispensed by the state government. This is affecting adversely their academics and the will to pursue higher education.”

He further contended that,

“in the petition that a bare perusal of the Report of the High Level Committee headed by Justice Sachar clearly indicates that low level of social and educational backwardness of the Muslim community is not attributable only to poverty or only to religion. Ghettoisation, identity related concerns, security concerns etc. are social barriers peculiar to the Muslim community and not to the other poor strata of the society belonging to the majority community. Hence, when a meritorious but poor Muslim student is given a pre-matric scholarship for school education and a post matric scholarship for a professional or technical course, he does not get it merely because he is a Muslim, but because he has to face the social barriers indicated above, which the majority community students belonging to poor strata do not have to face.”

The petition prays for disbursement of the scholarship amount at the earliest, framing of a regularisation scheme with accountability of officials so that the disbursement of Scholarships are made within the same academic year without any inordinate delay, publish every information related to scholarships offered in the state in the Public domain, such as by putting the information at the already existing online portal, as the state is bound by Article 46 of the Indian Constitution to strengthen the weaker sections of the country by empowering them through economical and educational assistance.

According to the facts of the present case, the Petitioner came to know about the Uttar Pradesh Post Matric Scholarship also known as Dashmottar scholarship, which is disbursed by the Social Welfare Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh, meant for students who are pursuing education after class 12^th and onwards, and belong to the state of Uttar Pradesh. Post-matric UP scholarship is disbursed among students of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Class, Minority and General categories.

As per the criteria of this scholarship program, all the four petitioners fulfilled the required criteria for receiving benefits of the scholarship. Petitioners submitted applications to the University, which forwarded the applications to the Social Welfare Department.

An amendment was brought in the detailed schedule of the Scholarship of Post Matric other than Intermediate and it got replaced by new schedule. Petitioners visited the district minority welfare office in order to enquire about the status of their applications. However officials present there did not show much interest in their grievance, instead they offered assurance that their application will be considered in due time, without even checking into records.

Despite several inquiries by the petitioners no response was given by the District Minority Welfare Department. The petitioner requested the University which then sent a reminder on 7th April, 2021, to the district office to look into the applications and disburse the scholarship amounts, as the petitioners were facing financial.

Inaction of respondents on the application of the petitioners virtually amounts as if the scholarship has been denied and as result of which their careers have been jeopardised because petitioners are not in a position to afford the expenses required to be incurred for their further studies, averred the plea.

The matter will be next taken up on 22^nd July, 2021

 

[Case Titile - YAQOOB ALAM & ORS. V. STATE OF U.P. & ORS. ]