CBI files chargesheet against 20 institutions, 105 individuals in Himachal Pradesh scholarship scam

New Delhi, March 29

The CBI has concluded its investigation in the Himachal Pradesh multi-crore scholarship scam, where it has filed chargesheets against 20 institutions and 105 persons, official sources said on Friday.

The chargesheets have been filed against the owners of educational institutes, the staff of Directorate of Higher Education, Shimla; bank officials and other private persons involved in the misuse of funds under scholarship and reimbursement scheme of fees launched by the Union Government and implemented through the state government to help the students of SC, ST and OBC categories, official sources said.

Fraudulent claims

• The scam started in 2012-13, when the scholarships for SC, ST and OBC students of the state for pre-matric and post-matric students under 36 schemes were not paid to the eligible students
• The scam was unearthed following reports that students of
• the government schools in the tribal Spiti valley of Lahaul-Spiti district had not been paid a scholarship for the past five years
• A case was registered by the CBI in 2019 on the request of the state government against the private educational institutions in Himachal for fake and fraudulent claims of scholarships of about Rs 181 crore from 2013 to 2017

The case in the matter was registered by the CBI in 2019 on the request of the Himachal Pradesh government, against private educational institutions for fake and fraudulent claims of scholarships worth Rs 181 crore between 2013 and 2017.

Thereafter the Himachal Pradesh High Court had also monitored the investigation of the case and accordingly status reports were filed periodically. The case pertains to alleged misuse of the scholarship scheme launched by the Centre and implemented through the state government to help the students of SC/ST/OBC categories.

The scholarship scam started in 2012-13, when the scholarships for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Class (OBC) students of the state for pre-matric and post-matric students under 36 schemes were not paid to the eligible students. About 80% of the scholarship money was paid to the private institutions.

The scam was unearthed following reports that the students of the government schools in the tribal Spiti valley in Himachal’s Lahaul and Spiti district had not been paid a scholarship for the past five years.

Searches were earlier conducted at about 30 places on the premises of some people, which led to the recovery of incriminating documents. Subsequently, 19 accused, including the chairman, vice-chairman, directors and employees of the educational institutes; bank officials and officials of the education department were arrested.

Twenty two educational institutions were on the CBI radar in the scholarship scam for not only committing irregularities, but also for allegedly asking the students to pay money for the release of scholarship.

The investigations had revealed that fake letterheads were used by several educational institutions to show false affiliation in order to mislead the education department which failed to ensure physical verification of the infrastructure and the strength of students.