CHENNAI: Coming down on the authorities concerned for denying loan to a student from a minority community pursuing MBBS in a university in the Philippines, the Madras High Court ordered the Tamil Nadu government to sanction to him an education loan of Rs 30 lakh within 15 days.
Justice Krishnan Ramasamy recently passed the order on a petition moved by N Hudson Samkumar of Rasipuram in Namakkal district. He had applied for a loan Rs 6 lakh per annum for a period of five years – for pursuing MBBS course in a university in the Philippines.
He submitted a representation in 2022 to the authorities concerned for granting him the loan citing the Minorities Welfare Guide dated October 7, 2021. Still the loan wasn’t granted. Subsequently, he moved the high court.
The counsel for the state government submitted that Samkumar was denied the loan as the cooperative bank concerned did not recommend it. Such a recommendation is necessary because the loan scheme for minority students pursuing education abroad is implemented through cooperative banks.
The court observed that the Minorities Welfare Guide was introduced to encourage and motivate the minority students studying abroad. It is therefore unfortunate to note that the said benefit is only available in paper in the case of the petitioner, the judge said.
“There is no use of any scheme, which is kept only in paper, unless it has been implemented,” he added.
Further, Justice Ramasamy observed, “In a democratic framework, the gap between a policy’s announcement and its actual execution will be viewed as a breach of social contract. In other words, if any scheme is brought in paper but not implemented by the state government, it would certainly amount to misrepresenting the people.”
“When a scheme is launched, it will create a legitimate expectation among the citizens. In such a case, the state government should not have indulged in such activities of misrepresenting the general public by merely announcing the scheme without any implementation,” he remarked.
The judge then ordered the respondent authorities to disburse the Rs 30-lakh loan to the petitioner within 15 days from the date of the order.