Give scholarship in a time-bound manner: Madras High Court tells state govt

MADURAI:  The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday suggested the State government identify and resolve the ‘hiccups’ in the effective implementation of the post-matric scholarship schemes from the upcoming academic years to ensure timely disbursal of the scholarship amount to eligible students.

A bench of justices R Mahadevan and J Sathya Narayana Prasad passed the order on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by P Vedachalam in 2016, seeking to disburse the post-matric scholarship to SC/ST students of all colleges in TN at the beginning of every academic year.

Vedachalam submitted that the scholarship amount for SC/ST students in the self-financing colleges has to be determined and disbursed during the beginning of the academic year so as to enable the students to continue their education without any hassle. The admission of the students largely depends upon the scholarship amount and any delay in disbursal of the amount would greatly affect them,  he stated.

However, the government counsel claimed there is no delay in the disbursal of the scholarship amount and only due to wanting of funds, the amount is disbursed in phases. The judges observed the scholarship schemes are formulated and implemented by the central and state governments to achieve the constitutional goals and to address the barriers faced by SC/ST students in pursuing education. Hence, non-disbursal of the scholarship amount on time affects the achievement of these constitutional goals, they opined.