SUBHASH NAUTIYAL Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The investigation being caused by the SIT, which is being monitored by us in WPPIL No.228 of 2018, relates to fake admissions, and the resultant siphoning of public funds allegedly running into several hundred crores of rupees. The allegations, in WPPIL No. 67 of 2019, are slightly different. While the present case also relates to the scholarship scam, the allegations made by the petitioner therein is that the eligibility for being awarded scholarships was, in terms of the scheme, confined only to those Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes students whose family income was Rs.2.5 Lacs per annum or less; and students, who were ineligible to be granted scholarships, had produced false income certificates from Revenue Officials, and had received the benefit of scholarships to which they were not entitled to.

(2.) Reference is made by Mr. Kishore Kumar, learned Advocate holding brief of Mr. D.K. Joshi, learned counsel for the petitioner, to Annexure-5 of the Writ Petition which contains details of students who were allegedly extended the benefit of the scholarships because the income of their family was less than 2.5 lacs per annum. Learned counsel would submit that the list contains the names of several government servants; and, admittedly, the annual income of no government servant in the State of Uttarakhand, even those belonging to the Group-D cadre i.e. Class IV employees, is Rs.2.5 lacs per annum or less. The submission, in short, is that none of the government servants in the State of Uttarakhand are eligible to claim the benefit of scholarships for their wards under the scheme governing the grant of scholarship to students belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

(3.) Dr. T.C. Manjunath, Head of the SIT, who is present in Court today seeks to absolve himself of all responsibility and states that the mandate of the SIT was only to look into fake admission of students in these private colleges and the resultant siphoning of public funds earmarked as scholarships for students belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; and since the case of the petitioner, in WPPIL No.67 of 2019, is not that the admissions were fake but that students, who admittedly prosecuted their studies, were granted the benefit of scholarships, even though they were not entitled thereto, on the basis of fraudulent income certificates produced by them, it is beyond the mandate of the SIT headed by him.