Eligibility for scholarships is contingent upon accurate income reporting; discrepancies can lead to denial of benefits.

Order :

(ANOOP KUMAR DHAND, J.)

Scholarships are more than the financial aids; they are life changing opportunities. They empower the needy, deserving and brilliant students to dream, parents to hope and communities to grow. Scholarships cater the deserving and worthy students with different strengths, needs and ambitions.

1. It is in the above background, the instant writ petition is required to be decided. The instant writ petition has been preferred with the following prayer:-

“i) By an appropriate writ, order or directions, the entire record and note-sheet pertaining to the petitioner scholarship may be summoned by the Court.

ii) By an appropriate writ order or directions, the action of the Respondent Department of not paying the Scholarship cum tuition fee amount to the foreign University after a passage of more than one year may be seriously deprecated.

iii) By an appropriate writ order or directions, the Respondents may be directed to release the fees for the first year, 2024, and also for the upcoming session of 2025 i.e. Second year towards the payment of fees to the Foreign University in terms of the selection letter dated 30.11.2023.

vi) By an appropriate order or direction, the action of the respondent Department may be deprecated in the strongest terms, and appropriate departmental inquiry may be initiated against the delinquent officer responsible for jeopardizing the interest of an Indian Student in a foreign Country.

v) Any other relief which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit may be passed in favor of the Humble Petitioner and citizens of Rajasthan.”

2. By way of filing this writ petition, the petitioner is seeking direction against the respondents for paying scholarship-cum- tuition fee amount in view of her admission to the foreign university and release the first year fee for the year 2024 and the remaining fee for the up-coming sessions.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that in pursuance of the Rajiv Gandhi Scholarship Academic Excellence Scheme (now known as “Swami Vivekananda Scholarship Scheme”), the petitioner submitted an application before the respondents for grant of scholarship. Counsel submits that on the basis of the documents furnished by the petitioner, she was provisionally selected for getting the aforesaid scholarship for academic excellence. Counsel submits that an application was submitted by her for getting scholarship on the basis of the Income Tax Return (for short, “the ITR”) of the family, for the academic excellence for the Financial Year 2023-24 (Phase-I & II) and the petitioner was selected by the respondents on the basis of the said documents vide order dated 30.11.2023 and thereafter, the application submitted by the petitioner was approved and the petitioner was finally selected to pursue higher studies in foreign University. Counsel submits that admission was taken by the petitioner in Bachelor of Science, UG in the University of Western Australia and her studies commenced in the month of February, 2024.

4. Counsel submits that in spite of selection of the petitioner for getting the aforesaid scholarship and her admission in the foreign University, the respondents have not released the requisite scholarship either in favour of the petitioner or in favour of the foreign University. Counsel submits that several correspondences were made in this regard, but all went in vain. Counsel submits that even the respondents sought the details from the concerned University with regard to the fee, but in spite of above, nothing was done for the reasons best known to the respondents. Counsel submits that certain communications through e-mails were sent to the petitioner with regard to the income of the family and in response to the aforesaid e-mails, the required documents were submitted which indicate that the entire family income of the petitioner is depended upon the agricultural crops and the same yielded low due to less cultivation and that is why the income was affected.

5. Counsel submi