Portal glitch: State account debited by Rs 214 crore, instead of Rs 85 crore

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, March 28

A technical glitch in the transfer of scholarship money to the accounts of around 66,000 SC students has put the state’s Social Justice and Empowerment Department in a tizzy.

Under the new SC Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme started in 2020-21, the Centre and the state share the burden in 60:40 ratio. The state has to release its 40 per cent share before the Centre does so. The scholarship amount is then credited to the students’ accounts.

Instead of lifting 60 per cent share from the central funds, the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) portal of the Central Government deducted the entire 100 per cent amount of Rs 214 crore from state’s funds for 2022-2023.

“The state’s 40 per cent share amounted to Rs 85 crore. The remaining 60 per cent share had to be credited from the Central Government’s funds. But due to a technical glitch, the portal lifted 100 per cent share (Rs 214 crore) from state’s funds and credited it to the students’ accounts. The matter has been taken up with the Centre,” said a senior government functionary.

In 2020-21, the Centre restarted the scholarship scheme with a sharing ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and the state. Prior to 2016-2017, the scholarship revenue was contributed by the Centre and the state in 90:10 ratio. The Centre did not provide any funds from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

The state government has written a letter to the Centre, besides sending a team of officials to personally take up the matter. “Admitting the glitch, the Centre had agreed to rectify it by refunding the state for the share wrongly debited,” said sources in the government.

This year, 2.44 lakh students had applied for the scholarship and near 2.20 lakh applications have been verified so far. Process is on to verify the remaining applications.

How it happened

• Under the new SC Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme, the Centre and the state share the burden in 60:40 ratio
• Instead of lifting 60% share from the central funds, the Public Financial Management System portal deducted the entire 100% amount from state’s funds