Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday ordered the setting up of a Special Investigation Team to probe alleged irregularities and embezzlement of funds in the Minority Scholarship Scheme.
Prima facie, it appears that some institutions registered on the National Scholarship Portal, including madrassas and Sanskrit schools, allegedly received minority scholarships on the basis of fake documents, officials here said.
"The corrupt will not be spared. Any kind of irregularity in welfare programmes like scholarship in the state will not be tolerated. Strict action will be taken against anyone found guilty," the chief minister said after ordering an SIT probe into the irregularities.
According to data provided by the central government for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 sessions, a total of 92 institutions of the state are under suspicion, out of which embezzlement of scholarship funds has been confirmed in the preliminary investigation against 17 institutions.
In some cases in these institutions, the number of students, identity cards (Aadhaar card) and residence-related documents have been found to be fake.
The officials said that irregularities have been found in institutions like Saraswati Shishu Mandir High School in Udham Singh Nagar district and Vasukedar Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya in Rudraprayag district.
Apart from this, some institutions of Nainital, Haridwar and other districts are also under investigation, they said.
The SIT will investigate the matter in depth and the role of the officials concerned and the institutions will also be reviewed.
According to officials, the central government has given instructions to investigate seven points in this regard, which also includes identifying fake cases and registering FIRs against the concerned.