RENU NEGI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner has approached this Court seeking the following reliefs:

(2.) Brief facts of the case are that the petitioner is permanent resident of Village Soniyana P.O. Gairsain District Chamoli, Uttarakhand. Petitioner belongs to BPL (Below Poverty Line); her father was engaged in private job, who got expired when the petitioner was pursuing her Intermediate; petitioner's mother is the only bread winner of the family who by somehow is managing her family; petitioners are three brothers and sisters; her sisters and brother are studying in junior classes in government schools. Petitioner passed high school examination in 2014 with first division with 9.2 Cumulative grade point average; intermediate in 2016 with 81 per cent; and, B.Sc. I, II, III and IV Semesters with First Division. It is the submission that the Ministry of Science and Technology, Union of India, in order to attract youth talents for strengthening the Research and Development base of the country, has initiated multiple component programs. One such programme is Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE), under which, the selected candidate is awarded scholarship of Rs.80,000.00 per year for five years till the student completes its B.Sc. and M.Sc. courses. In order to become eligible for scholarship under the INSPIRE-SHE, the candidate should come in top 1% in Class XII Board Examination conducted by the respective State Education Boards. It is the case of the petitioner that she is topper with 1% in Class XII Board Examination conducted by School Education Board, Ramnagar, Uttarakhand and as such she is fully eligible to get the scholarship under the INSPIRE-SHE. In this regard, an eligibility certificate has also been issued to the petitioner by the Uttarakhand School Education Board, Ramnagar, which is Annexure-1. Petitioner, being fully eligible, submitted the online form for scholarship for the year 2016 onwards for 5 years in the respondent No. 1 department's website with all relevant documents attached with the form as per the requirements of the application. However, vide an email correspondence, respondent No. 1 authority sent intimation to the petitioner that her form for SHE-INPSIRE is rejected on account of endorsement certificate not in proper form. After the rejection of the application form, petitioner submitted fresh form with fresh endorsement certificate issued from the office of third respondent, but no order or communication has been made to her on her application form. Being aggrieved, petitioner has approached this Court.

(3.) Counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of first respondent - Union of India stating that the petitioner's application was evaluated as per the norms of INSPIRE-SHE scheme and on evaluation it was found that the petitioner had submitted Performance Report in place of endorsement certificate which constitutes as 'incomplete' application and thus the petitioner's candidature was rejected.