After an inter-caste couple from Ramanathapuram district had to move the High Court for grant of financial assistance under Dr. Ambedkar Scheme for Social Integration through Inter-caste Marriages, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court observed that such applications should be processed as expeditiously as possible.
Justice G.R. Swaminathan observed that the Centre had introduced the scheme with a noble objective and when such applications were submitted, the court expected the authorities concerned to process them with utmost expedition. Keeping such papers without processing them would defeat the purpose of the scheme, the judge said.
The court was hearing the petition filed by T. Murugesh, who married Vanitha from a different caste. As the couple were eligible under the scheme, they had sought financial assistance and submitted their application to the authorities concerned. However, their application was kept pending due to ‘some lacuna in documentation’.
During the course of the hearing, the State submitted that the application would be processed within four weeks. Recording the undertaking, the judge observed that he hoped that such delay in processing the papers would not happen in the future and disposed of the petition.