No action yet in SC scholarship scam in Punjab

Rajmeet Singh
Chandigarh, April 18

Even after the change of guard, the Department of Social Justice has failed to initiate action against the erring educational institutions involved in the multi-crore scam pertaining to the disbursal of funds under the SC Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme.

Before coming to power, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had been vocal on probing the wrongdoings in the disbursal of the scholarship. But action on the ground is still awaited.

The department is yet to issue the show-cause notices to nine erring institutions that are involved in wrongful disbursal of Rs 16.91 crore. The department has, however, initiated departmental proceedings against the officials involved in the release of funds.

Before sending the show-cause notice to the institutions, the department had sought legal opinion from the Advocate General (AG) in September last year. After the AG office sought the complete record of the case, the department is learnt to have gone slow in following the case. During the tenure of the previous government, there was a consistent effort to suppress the case, said sources in the department.

The scam surfaced in 2019 during the tenure of former Social Justice Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot when then Additional Chief Secretary (Social Justice) Kirpa Shankar Saroj had in his report alleged a scam amounting to Rs 55.71 crore in disbursal of SC scholarships. It was disclosed that Rs 16.91 crore was wrongfully disbursed to private institutes. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is already probing the scam.

In a reprieve to the erring 70 institutions, the previous Charanjit Singh Channi led-government had on January 1, 2022, decided not to register FIR against the institutions facing recovery of Rs 50 crore and above in the case. It was pointed out that erring amount could be recovered later on.

Social Justice Dept going ‘slow’

• The Department of Social Justice is yet to issue show-cause notices to nine erring institutions involved in wrongful disbursal of Rs. 16.91 crore. The department had sought legal opinion from the Advocate General’s office in September last year
• After the AG’s office sought the complete record, the department is learnt to have gone slow in following up the case