Madras High Court suggests setting up of a task force to disburse SC/ST post-matric scholarship

The petitioner says the scheme was not properly implemented due to the delay in disbursing the amoun

The petitioner says the scheme was not properly implemented due to the delay in disbursing the amount

CHENNAI The Madras High Court suggested the constitution of a task force by the State and Central governments for effective implementation of the post-matric scholarship to SC/ST/SCA students in Tamil Nadu.

The High Court bench of Justice R. Mahadevan and Justice Sathya Narayana Prasad heard a petition to disburse the scholarship to SC/ST students of all colleges in Tamil Nadu at the beginning of every year.

According to the petitioner, the scheme has not been properly implemented and due to the delay, the students admitted under the scholarship category are finding it difficult to continue their studies. The appeal submitted in 2016 claimed that the disbursement ratio was extremely low despite the fact that the government had allocated  ₹623.50 crore through a policy note in 2015–16.

Hearing the plea, the High Court bench stated that the constitutional goal for which the post-matric scholarship programme was created was defeated by the late disbursal of scholarship funds to SC/ST. Further, the court also instructed the authorities to take into account forming a task group with representatives from both the State and Union government.

“We suggest the respondents to constitute a task force with representatives of the State government, Union Ministry of Social justice and Empowerment, and Ministry of Tribal Affairs to identify the hiccups in effective implementation of the post-matric scholarship schemes from the forthcoming academic years and resolve the same,” said the court.