The Allahabad High Court has ruled that the exhaustion of budgetary allocations at the end of a financial year cannot be a ground to deny a scholarship to an eligible candidate. The court ordered the Social Welfare Department of Prayagraj to ensure the payment of the scholarship within three months under the applicable scheme.
Justice Manish Kumar issued the order after hearing the petition of Pulasty Tiwari, a student pursuing MSc in Food Technology at Allahabad University, who had applied for the Uttar Pradesh Scholarship Scheme for the year 2023-24. Upon inquiring about the non-receipt of his scholarship, Tiwari discovered that the scholarship had been erroneously granted to another student from Ayodhya, who had used Tiwari’s high school roll number in her application.
Tiwari’s lawyer argued that since there was no fault on his client’s part, he could not be deprived of the scholarship under the scheme. The permanent advocate for the respondents also submitted an affidavit confirming Tiwari’s eligibility for the scholarship.
The court noted that the scholarship had been mistakenly given to another student using Tiwari’s roll number. Despite the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2024, and the depletion of the budget, the court emphasized that these factors do not justify withholding scholarship from a deserving student. Citing several Supreme Court decisions, the court directed the Social Welfare Department to make the scholarship payment to Tiwari within three months of receiving the court’s order.
