Less than a fortnight after the Punjab and Haryana High Court expressed serious concern over non-issuance of degrees to “hundreds of students” over the last five years, the court has directed the state of Punjab to file an affidavit clarifying whether universities other than Punjab have withheld certificates due to delays in payment of scholarships. The court also indicated that it would deliberate on compensating students suffering due to the administrative impasse.

“The state will also inform this court through an affidavit whether any other university except Panjab University has also withheld any certificate/DMC due to post-matric scholarship or not and if yes, what remedial measures will be taken. they will take be taken,” said Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri.

The court was hearing a petition filed against the State and other respondents by Janak Raj and other petitioners through advocates Yagyadeep and Rajesh Kumar. The court observed that counsel for the parties informed the court during the course of arguments that the dispute regarding the post-matriculation scholarship pertained to 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. The post-2020 amount was paid directly to the students.

“On the next date of hearing, this court will also consider how the dispute would be resolved amicably by holding a joint meeting between the officials concerned. As far as students who have been deprived of their degrees and DMC only because of money are concerned, how they will be compensated by fixing liabilities will be considered on the next date of hearing,” Justice Puri said. .

Appearing before the court, Punjab Additional Advocate General Saurav Khurana submitted that the total amount due, reflected in an affidavit filed by Panjab University, was Rs 2,70,81,915. It would be handed over to the varsity within two weeks. The university lawyer, in turn, stated that he would issue all pending degrees and DMCs within a week after receiving the amount. The center was represented by Additional Solicitor General of India Satya Pal Jain.

The position of the petitioners in this regard was that they were covered under the post-matriculation scholarship scheme, the benefit of which was granted by the Center and the state government to public universities. They were not required to pay the examination fee as it is currently waived in case of reserved category candidates.

Taking up the matter, Justice Puri had earlier stated: “This court takes very seriously similar cases where the petitioners, who are the students belonging to the reserved category, have not received their certificates/degrees and there is no fault for their part in this sense. Students are not required to pay any examination fee which is an admitted position. The examination fee has to be paid by the university to Panjab University and interestingly, the university is a public university.”