According to report in Times of India, the Uttar Pradesh state government has ordered district magistrates of all 75 districts to probe minority technical and management institutes for not enrolling 50% students from the minority community after allegations were raised that these minority institutes were admitting students from SC category in place of minority students to pocket the scholarship amount. An inquiry into the scholarships awarded to students at these institutes has also been ordered.
The report states that the Uttar Pradesh social welfare department received a complaint on IGRS portal that several minority institutions in UP have not followed set norms and have instead admitted students from other communities. A probe has been ordered for last four years and if found guilty, these institutes would be blacklisted. Jagmohan Singh, district minority welfare officer of Bareilly and Badaun told TOI that minority institutes are allowed to admit students without counselling or giving entrance test. He said that while scholarship to minority students depends on the availability of funds, students belonging to the SC category get 100% fee reimbursement from the central government. They had received complaints alleging that some minority institutions gave 100% admissions to SC students so that they could eventually pocket the scholarship amount given by the Centre for the SC students.
According to officials, the institutes try to take advantage of the delay in the release of funds by the Centre for SC students since there have been times that there has been a gap of two-three years before funds are released. In such cases, institutes ask students to pay fees from their own pockets, which is eventually not reimbursed back to students once funds are released. From 2016-17, the government has started transferring scholarship amounts directly into bank accounts of students. Recently, in Lucknow, an FIR was filed against 10 institutions for fraudulently taking benefits under minority scholarship scheme.
