Court No. - 19
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 29276 of 2018 Petitioner :- Abhishek Upadhyay And 2 Others Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Sipahi Lal Shukla Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Manoj Kumar Gupta,J.
Heard counsel for the petitioner and learned standing counsel for the State- respondents. With their consent, the instant writ petition is being disposed of finally without inviting a formal counter affidavit as learned standing counsel has already received instructions from respondent no.3 and which have been placed on record.
The petitioners, who were students of D.El.Ed. course applied for scholarship/fee reimbursement as per the government policy. However, their claim has been rejected by impugned order passed by the District Social Welfare Officer, Jaunpur dated 15.5.2018. The order records that prima facie it is the burden of the educational institution to submit form and other information as per the time schedule prescribed in this regard. The institution admits that it wrote a letter dated 5.2.2018 in which it is mentioned that the Nodal Officer of the University namely Sri Vineet Singh fell ill suddenly on account of which the relevant information relating to students of the institution could not be digitally locked on the official website in time. It is concluded therefrom that in the absence of the required steps being taken as per the government orders, the students would not be entitled to claim scholarship/fee reimbursement.
Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that before communication dated 5.2.2018 was sent, the institution wrote another letter on 20.11.2017 to Social Welfare Officer, Jaunpur, in which he was apprised of the fact that on account of certain technical glitch, the institution was facing difficulty in uploading the forms of the students. A request was made to resolve the said problem. It is submitted that the office of the District Social Welfare Officer did not take any step to resolve the problem. It is submitted that subsequent letter dated 5.2.2018 written by the Principal of the institution stating that the form could not be submitted in time on account of Nodal Officer of the University having fallen ill, could not be made a ground to deny scholarship to the petitioners, who are otherwise eligible for the same.
The instructions furnished to learned standing counsel by the District Social Welfare Officer places reliance on government order dated 27.10.2017 prescribing time schedule for taking various steps for claiming scholarship. On basis thereof, it is contended that the institution of the petitioner having failed to submit application form in time and in the manner prescribed, the petitioners cannot claim scholarship.
On the other hand, learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners being eligible for fee reimbursement/scholarship under government orders cannot be denied the said benefit on account of technical glitch and an employee of the University having fallen ill.
There appears sufficient force in the submission made by learned counsel for the petitioners. Respondent no.3, while passing the impugned order has not taken into consideration the said aspects. Accordingly the order passed by respondent no.3 cannot be sustained and is hereby quashed.
The petitioners are permitted to approach respondent no.2 alongwith a certified copy of this order and a fresh representation and in which event respondent no.2 shall examine the grievance of the petitioners in the light of the observations made above and shall take appropriate decision in accordance with law expeditiously, preferably within a period of next 12 weeks.
The writ petition stands disposed of accordingly.
(Manoj Kumar Gupta, J.) Order Date :- 30.10.2018 skv