6 years on, govt to release varsity’s scholarship dues

Patiala, August 23

The state government may soon release the long pending grant of the Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for Punjabi University. Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on the sidelines of a programme on the campus said the state was working on clearing the university’s dues.

The dues have been pending for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20.

Vice Chancellor Prof Arvind said the university was yet to receive grants worth Rs 48.27 crore of the Post Matric scholarship Scheme. He said the university kept on writing to the state government over the matter.

The government earlier used to deposit the fees of SC category students, who availed the benefits of the scheme, directly into the accounts of the respective universities. But an official said, “Private institutions had started taking advantage of the situation and used dummy SC students to collect the fees. The centre then changed the norms and started depositing fee into the accounts of students.”

They said many students had also started taking undue advantage of the same as they would take admission in a particular course at the university and leave the course mid-way after the grant was received.

Finance Minister Harpal Cheema said the university had raised the matter of the pending grant. “We will try to clear the dues soon,” he said. He said department officials were also working to clear the university’s other liabilities, including waiver of its long-pending bank loan.