Court asks Punjab for clarity on withheld degrees and hints at compensation for students

Less than a fortnight after the Punjab and Haryana High Court raised serious concerns over the failure to award degrees to “hundreds of students” over the past five years, the court has directed the state of Punjab to file an affidavit clarifying whether universities , with the exception of Panjab, have had certificates withheld due to delays in payment of scholarships. The court also indicated that it would deliberate on compensating the students suffering from the administrative impasse.

“The State shall also inform this court through an affidavit as to whether any other university other than University of Panjab has also retained Certificate/DMC on account of the Post Graduate Scholarship or not and if so what remedial measures will then be taken? be taken,” Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri alleged.

The bench was hearing a petition filed against the state and other respondents by Janak Raj and other petitioners through counsel Yagyadeep and Rajesh Kumar. The court noted that the parties’ lawyers informed the court during the oral arguments that the dispute relating to the post-matric scholarship related to 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. The amount after year 2020 was paid directly to the students.

“On the next hearing date, this court will also consider how the dispute can be resolved amicably through a joint meeting of the officials concerned. As for the students who were deprived of their degrees and DMC just because of money, the next hearing will consider how they should be compensated by fixing responsibility,” Justice Puri said. .

Punjab Additional Solicitor General Saurav Khurana appeared before the court and submitted the total amount due, shown in an affidavit filed by Panjab University, amounting to Rs 2,70,81,915. It would be released to the varsity within two weeks. Varsity’s counsel, in turn, stated that it would award all pending degrees and DMCs within a week of receiving the amount. The Center was represented by Satya Pal Jain, Additional Solicitor General of India.

The stand of the petitioners in this case was that they were covered by the post-matric scholarship scheme, the benefit of which was given by the Center and the State Government to the Government Colleges. They were not required to pay examination fees as this was waived for reserved category candidates.

While hearing the case, Justice Puri had earlier asserted, “This court takes such cases very seriously, where the petitioners, who are the students belonging to the reserved category, have not been given their certificates/degrees and there is no question of fault . on their part in this regard. Students do not pay an exam fee, this is an authorized position. The examination fee has to be paid by the college to Panjab University and interestingly the college is a government college”.