High Court takes strong stand on post-matric scholarship scam for Scheduled Caste students

April 7, 2026

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has taken a strong stand on the alleged multi-crore scam in the post-matric scholarship scheme for Scheduled Caste students and has put the state government on the dock. The court has explicitly asked why an FIR was not registered within the time limit prescribed by the Supreme Court’s Lalita Kumari judgment if information about any crime was available.

During the hearing, the High Court directed the Punjab Chief Secretary to file a personal affidavit clarifying the entire situation. The court was particularly displeased with the fact that despite such serious allegations, neither an FIR was registered nor any concrete action was taken even after more than five years.

The PIL revealed that the Central Government had released a total of ₹303.92 crore under the scheme in March 2019. According to the treasury expenditure report, ₹248.11 crore was withdrawn, while ₹55.81 crore remained in the account. The remaining amount was later shown as expenditure under the guise of maintenance allowance for previous sessions, to which the petitioner has raised serious objections.

The most shocking aspect is that the treasury department does not have any records or documents for the payment of about ₹39 crore of the withdrawn amount. The petition has alleged that this amount was claimed to have been released to various educational institutions, but no concrete evidence could be produced.

The petitioner also argued that due to the involvement of influential persons in the matter, a fair investigation is impossible, and therefore, the entire matter should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). On the other hand, the Punjab government informed the court that the relevant records have been handed over to the Vigilance Department and six weeks should be given to complete the investigation.

However, the High Court reacted sharply to this, saying that the lack of an FIR in such an old and serious case is worrying. The court indicated that the matter cannot be kept pending without fixing the liability.