CHENNAI : The High Court, in a 157-page order, directed the Central Department of Finance to allocate funds of arrears of Rs 822.91 crore, up to 2016-17, enabling the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, New Delhi, to disburse the fund meant for SC, ST Students under the Post-Matric Scholarship, within two months.
The PIL plea was filed by one D Ashok Kumar, seeking directions to the authorities of the State and Centre, to continue to support Post Matric Scholarship to students hailing from SC/ST communities, to pursue their higher education, as there has been paucity of funds, due to non-release of funds by the Government of India, as a result of which, Government of Tamil Nadu, decided to restrict the benefits of the scheme.
The Division Bench, comprising Justice S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad, which heard the petition, sought for a direction to the Director, Social Justice and Empowerment, Union of India, New Delhi, to immediately release the funds of Rs 1765.62 crore, to Scheduled Caste students and Rs 31.2 crore to the Scheduled Tribe students, enabling them to pursue their higher education.
The judges said, “The Central Government under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, New Delhi, has not released the arrears of scholarship to Scheduled Caste students up to 2016-17. A request was made on August 13 to the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, to release additional funds under the Post Matric Scholarship share to scheme on priority, so as to enable Social Justice and Empowerment, New Delhi, to release the funds to states.
However, the Social Justice department has said that in anticipation of funds from the Ministry of Finance, administrative approval of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has been granted on August 16, for the balance arrears up to 2016-17 to Tamil Nadu. From the above, it is clear that the Central Government has not disbursed the arrears of their shares of Rs 822.91 crore up to 2016-2017.
Though the Department of Finance, Government of India, is not a party to this litigation, allocation of funds have to be made as per the scheme, promptly. The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, New Delhi, represented by its Director, is directed to disburse the arrears of Rs 822.91 crore, representing the Post-Matric Scholarship to SC students up to 2016-17, within two months, from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and also an amount of Rs 162 crore for the year 2017-18,” said the order.
The social justice department, in its counter, submitted that the Centre has been releasing funds to the government of Tamil Nadu, on regular basis. Further, during the year 2018-19, an amount of ` 584.47 crore has been released and balance arrears up to 2016-2017 are Rs 822.91 crore only.
Man acquitted in murder case
Chennai: Overturning an order of the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Erode that sentenced a person to seven years RI in a murder case a year ago, the Madras High Court acquitted him on the ground that the entire evidence placed was self-contradictory in nature. Chithode police had registered the case in 2015 against one Thangavel of Mamarathupalayam. It was alleged that Thangavel used a sharp object to kill his son-in-law who was in an inebriated condition. Based on the statements provided by the mother of the deceased, a complaint was registered.
Seized vehicle released on conditions
Chennai: The High Court released a vehicle that carried M-sand, seized by the Virudhachalam police two months ago, with certain conditions. A Division Bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam, disposed of the writ petition from Senthilmurugan, the owner of the lorry, seeking a direction to release his vehicle. The court said it was for the probing authority to find out whether the transported sand was M-sand or river sand. The petitioner was asked to deposit a sum of `50,000 to the Deputy Director of Geology and Mining, Tirunelveli.