TS, AP institutes named in minority scholarship scam

 Hyderabad: The nodal officers of five minority institutes in Andhra Pradesh and 11 institutes in Telangana state have colluded with the students and bank officers in siphoning off funds of the ministry of minority affairs by applying for scholarships after submitting fake documents.

A day after the CBI registered criminal cases against the institutes, Indevar Pandey, secretary of the ministry of minority affairs said in the internal report, which was submitted to CBI for further investigation that some institutions with enlisted beneficiaries were found to be completely non-operational, but are availing the benefits of the scheme.

The enlisted beneficiaries were found to be ‘fake’ in some operational schools. There are some fake schools, under which scholarships are being transferred to minority students, who either do not exist or belong to other institutions, but never benefit from the scheme.

The CBI officials said that the Ministry of Minority Affairs is implementing three scholarship schemes as pre-matric scholarships, post-matric scholarships, and merit-cum-means for the students of six minority communities such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Parsis.

The scholarships are provided to minority students studying in more than 1.8 lakh institutions. In the last 5 years ending 2021-22, an average of 65 lakh students received scholarships every year.

“In states like Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, schools have not disabled their old U-DISE code and are using both codes to fill out applications. Schools have different U-DISE codes for different levels of education provided by them. One institute in the Hyderabad district was verified and found fake. It was informed by the NCAER while sharing the Interim Report of the Study,” the CBI officials said.

The most striking irregularity was found at the school/institution level, where the team came across many institutions that are completely non-operational but are availing the benefits of the scheme. Also, the enlisted beneficiaries were found as fake in many operational schools.