SRINAGAR: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Jammu has registered a case against a former Director of Tribal Affairs and several others for alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Post-Matric Scholarship (PMS) scheme meant for Scheduled Tribe (ST) students in Jammu and Kashmir.
As per a statement issued by bureau spokesperson, the FIR under sections of the JK Prevention of Corruption Act, Svt 2006 and section 120-B of the RPC has been filed at Police Station ACB Jammu.
“The accused include M S Choudhary, the then Director of Tribal Affairs J&K; Shanaz Akhtar Malik of Catalog Computers; Humera Banu and Firdous Ahmed of Chirag Institute of IT, Channi Himmat; Sham Lal Targotra of JKS ITI, Jindar Mehlu, R.S Pura; Jaffer Hussain Wani of Ever Green Institute of Computer Technology, Shastri Nagar; Parshotam Bharadwaj of Global Institute of IT, Janipur; Ramneek Kour of Pankaj Memorial Charitable Trust for Education and Research, Rajpura Subash Nagar; Puneet Mahajan of Supertech (India) Computer Education, Talab Tillo, and others,” it reads.
The verification revealed that the PMS scheme was launched by the Government of India to support ST students through financial aid, including Rs 18,000 per student and a maintenance allowance of Rs 2,300. From 2014 to 2018, private institutes in Jammu submitted documents of students from remote areas to the Directorate of Tribal Affairs. Without verifying the legitimacy of the institutes, their infrastructure or course content, the department released funds directly to these institutes.
It was found that many students listed for payments neither sought admission nor attended the courses. Some students were enrolled but only partially attended. Nonetheless, full tuition fees were credited to the accounts of the institutes.
In some instances, fake bank accounts were opened in the names of students without their knowledge. Several institutes lacked proper accreditation from NIELIT but still received funds. The statement said that officials, in alleged criminal conspiracy with institute operators, manipulated records and violated scheme guidelines, leading to misappropriation of government funds worth crores.
Further investigation is ongoing.
