Centre gets HC nod for accepting scholarship applications

The Centre today got a nod of the Delhi High Court to accept online applications of students for national scholarship in order to ensure "transparency", their effective disposal and "disbursement of funds" directly into beneficiaries' accounts without any delay.
Though the Aadhaar number was mandatory for applying for all types of scholarships through the online portal of the government, the Supreme Court had recently asked it to remove a condition making it mandatory for the students to give their unique identification numbers.
Taking note of the Centre's submission that over 80 lakh candidates have applied online this year, which was more than the previous year, a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal did not allow the petitioner's request to accept offline applications.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, appearing for the Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA), submitted that the students were asked to apply online for the schemes run by the different ministries through new upgraded portal -- National Scholarship Portal (NSP 2.0) -- which suggests the appropriate schemes for which candidates were eligible.
"The reason for making online was to provide a simplified mission-oriented, accountable, responsive and transparent system for faster disposal of scholarship applications and disbursement of funds directly into beneficiaries' accounts under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) without any leakage," the ASG told the court.
The Centre was responding to a plea by West Bengal-based Nasimuddin Educational and Charitable Trust, which had moved the court challenging the decision which made it mandatory to apply for scholarships online only.

"Lakhs of students may not be able to apply online. They (government) should allow offline application also," the plea had said.

The government, however, defended its stand to ask online application and said, "The process was a one-stop solution through various services starting from student applications, application of receipt and processing".
"Inviting online application was to ensure timely disbursement, create a transparent database, avoid duplication and harmonisation with different scholarship schemes," the ASG said.
The court also disposed of the petition, which had also claimed that the policy of "compelling" students to apply through the online process "smacks of non-application of mind since the students most in need of scholarship might not have access to computer, internet or the requisite knowledge of online application".