HYDERABAD: Stating that only a committee set up by the State government must evaluate applications without the recommendation of MLAs, Justice P Madhavi Devi of the Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the Warangal district administration to refer the Dalit Bandhu applications filed by the petitioners to an appropriate committee for verification and consideration in accordance with the rules and in order of preference.
Jannu Nutan Babu and three others had filed petitions urging the court to hold the district collector accountable for failing to stop the arbitrary and illegal selection of Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries, and failing to consider their request for financial assistance under the scheme.
Counsel for the petitioners claimed that the applicants, who are members of the Scheduled Caste community, are eligible for the scheme being implemented by the Telangana government. The petitioners, who are educated and jobless SC applicants, submitted requests for financial aid under the scheme.
Counsel told the court that Warangal district collector had issued memos stating that the MLA concerned was choosing the beneficiaries rather than referring the petitioners’ applications to the committee established for choosing the recipients of financial assistance under the scheme. The petitioners approached the MLA, but since they are not members of a particular political party, their complaints weren’t taken into account. They then moved court seeking justice.
After hearing the arguments and the evidence, the court ruled that the Dalit Bandhu scheme was created to help unemployed young people and other financially disadvantaged SC candidates and declared the two memos issued by the Warangal collector to be illegal.
Justice Madhavi Devi said that the Telangana government established a committee to select the beneficiaries, and the most recent guidelines are dated October 1, 2021, so the committee must evaluate the applications in accordance with those guidelines without the recommendation of an MLA.