Chandigarh: Students protest after PU tells to pay scholarship dues
Chandigarh’s Panjab University students said the state government was yet to credit the amount into their accounts while PU was asking them for the same up-front during admissions
After resolving last year that scheduled caste (SC) students from Punjab studying at the Panjab University (PU) will have to start paying their subsidised fees under Post-Matric Scholarship (PMS) scheme, a protest broke out at the varsity on Thursday. Students said the state government was yet to credit the amount into their accounts while PU was asking them for the same up-front during admissions. This comes amid a shortage of ₹36 crore in the funds that PU was supposed to get from Punjab and the students under this scheme.
From 2018-19 session onwards, Punjab government had started a direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme. Under the scheme, the scholarship amount is directly credited to bank accounts of respective students and the college authorities are not given any information about the transfer or release.
After reviewing the PMS scheme in the September 2023 syndicate meeting, PU had issued a circular in November 2023 that the students enrolled under the scheme will have to pay course fees and examination fees from 2024-25 session onwards. The decision had earlier been put on hold after protests by students. The vice-chancellor (V-C) had constituted a committee to look into the matter, but from this session the students will have to pay the fees to the varsity.
Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) first sat on protest outside the vice-chancellor’s (V-C) office on July 8 and finished the tenth day of their protest on Thursday. ASA president Amit Banga claimed that the dean students welfare (DSW) had held a meeting with the protesters on Tuesday and had reportedly accepted their demand to delay the payment as per now and asked them to stop protesting. However, when counselling took place at University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS) on Thursday, students were asked to pay the money up-front, leading to continued protests.
“The fees has to be credited into our accounts by the Punjab government and students are yet to receive it. We demand that like previous years, students should be allowed admission and the fees can be paid later,” said Banga. An official from UILS said they were just following the rules regarding PMS for the session.
The students said they will continue to protest even as PU officials told them that a committee will be formed to probe their issue. Some of the students had also allegedly tried to stop the V-C’s car at the gate when she was leaving but no complaint was registered.
Open for date extension
V-C Renu Vig said the varsity can extend the due date for fee payment, however, past dues must be settled. “For this year we can understand, but we appeal to the students from previous years as well to pay the amount under PMS to the university. By doing this, the present batch of students can also benefit from the scheme.”
While other states offering the scholarship face no hiccups, Punjab earlier had to directly transfer the amount under the scheme to the university but it wasn’t done. ₹21 crore is pending till the 2018-19 session when the DBT transfer scheme was adopted. Even after this, an additional ₹15 crore is also pending over the years. As per officials, There are around 1,500 students claiming the benefit of the scholarship but only a small percentage, around 10%, paid the full amount to the varsity during previous years. Many students pay an incomplete amount while some haven’t paid the varsity at all as per PU officials.