BHRC issues notice to principal secretary SC/ST welfare dept

Taking suo motu cognizance of reports of SC/ST students of Bihar forced to leave a college in Bhubaneswar due to the state's alleged failure to pay stipend to them, the BHRC today issued notice to the Principal Secretary (SC/ST Welfare Department) to submit a reply by April 25 next.
"We have taken suo motu cognizance of news reports published in the media on February 2 last about the SC/ST students of Bihar being forced to leave Rajdhani Engineering College, (REC), Bhubaneswar due to failure of the state government to pay their stipend....The Commission has issued notice to the Principal Secretary (SC/ST Welfare Department) for a response by April 25 next," Bihar Human Rights Commission, Member Neelmani said.

Neelmani said that the SC/ST Welfare Department Secretary has earlier informed the BHRC that the department has so far received approximately one lakh application for such scholarships for which Rs 70.9 crore had been sanctioned for 43,047 students of Bihar studying in 4,348 Engineering Colleges in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand.
The manual verification with respect of remaining 50,000 students will be completed in a month and the stipend amount transferred through RTGS to the college/Institutions concerned, the BHRC member said quoting from the information provided by the SC/ST Welfare Department Secretary.

Taking note of the media reports about five engineering colleges being found to be fake and in some cases undeserving students being enrolled in many of these engineering colleges, the BHRC member said the commission has been informed that necessary verification was being done manually through the district Welfare Officers even as in the case of REC, Bhubaneswar, its administration has denied that any student from Bihar has been expelled as reported by the media.
Appreciating the state government's initiative to deal with stipend issue of the SC/ST students, Neelmani said that the commission has asked the state government to take following measures - completion of pending verification within a month, expediting verification process by using various technological tools and exposing and taking those agency /institutions to task for attempt to siphon off public money.

He said that the commission has directed the Principal Secretary (SC/ST Welfare Department) to submit a report on April 25 next when the matter is listed for hearing.