Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday ordered the release of the post matric SC scholarships for 2015-16 by the end of the month, with strict directives to complete the entire process of disbursement of the scholarship by the end of this year.The Chief Minister warned of strict action against private institutions denying admission to SC students on account of non-payment of scholarships.The directives came at a meeting following the completion of audit of scholarship disbursement for the 2015-16, said an official spokesperson.Captain Amarinder Singh asked the SC/BC Welfare Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot to hold a meeting with the representatives of private Institutions, asking them not to put any student to inconvenience due to the delayed payment of scholarships on account of ongoing financial audit, as the State government was already in the process of streamlining the disbursements.The Chief Minister, said the spokesperson, had asked the Finance Department to release the pending amount of Rs. 100 crores for 2015-16 on account of Post Matric SC Scholarship to the private Institutions by October end. He also asked the Welfare department to complete the disbursement of the scholarships by December 31, 2018, to ensure timely payment of the Centre's share towards the scheme.
The Chief Minister further directed the Finance Department to release the pending amount of SC scholarship for 2016-17 by the end of next month. He asked the Principal Secretary Welfare to immediately take up review of the revised GoI's guidelines on Post Matric Scholarship, which would eventually burden the state with an additional liability of Rs. 720 crores.The Chief Minister said he had already raised this issue with the Prime Minister and would again request him to resolve it, keeping in view the state's dismal financial position in general, and for securing the future of SC students in particular.Regarding the issue of making payment of scholarships in case of drop-out students, the Chief Minister asked the Welfare Department to follow the already prescribed guidelines of the Government of India on this.The Post Matric Scholarship for Schedule Castes is being implemented with Central assistance with the objective to provide financial assistance to SC students studying at Post Matriculation and Post Secondary stages.The meeting was also attended by Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral, ACS Higher Education S.K Sandhu, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, ACS Welfare Dr. Roshan Sunkaria, Principal Secretary Finance Anirudh Tewari, and Principal Secretary to CM Tejveer Singh.