Tag: Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia

Nearly 12 Lakh Ineligible Farmers Got Benefits Under PM-KISAN: Assam Govt Tells HC

Hearing a public interest litigation filed by NGO Amguri Naba Nirman Samity, a high court division bench comprising Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Soumitra Saikia asked the Assam government to file a detailed status report on the case.

Guwahati: Nearly 12 lakh ineligible farmers received benefits under the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme in Assam, the state government has informed Gauhati high court indicating a massive scam in the farmer flagship programme.

Hearing a public interest litigation filed by NGO Amguri Naba Nirman Samity, a high court division bench comprising Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Soumitra Saikia asked the Assam government to file a detailed status report on the case.

“The state has filed an affidavit wherein it has admitted that over eleven lakh persons have been wrongly given the benefit of the aforesaid scheme,” the HC order given on Tuesday said.

The affidavit, filed by the joint secretary to the agriculture department Gunajeet Kashyap, stated that a government probe conducted by chief secretary Jishnu Barua in 2020 had found that 11.72 lakh ineligible people had received benefits under the PM-KISAN scheme.

The bench said the Assam advocate general has made a statement that the issue raised in the PIL is genuine.

Also read: Almost 75% Farmers Did Not Get All 3 PM Kisan Instalments, a Year After Implementation

“The efforts of the state government are already underway for enquiry and recovery of money from the persons who have been wrongly given the benefit of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme,” it added.

The Assam government also informed the HC that proceedings have been initiated against officers who were found to be involved in this scam and FIRs have been filed against some.

“Let a detailed report and up-to-date status report be filed by the state in the form of an affidavit before this court within six weeks,” the HC said in its order.

It has fixed April 5 for the next hearing of the case.

Under the PM-KISAN scheme, launched in 2019, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is provided to eligible farmer families payable in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000. The fund is transferred directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

On August 4 last year, Assam agriculture minister Atul Bora had told the Assembly that a total of 23,33,864 farmers across the state received benefits under the PM-KISAN scheme.

Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar had informed Parliament on July 20 last year that the Centre has to recover Rs 2,992.75 crore as on July 15, 2021 from 42.16 lakh ineligible beneficiary farmers registered for PM-KISAN scheme with the highest amount to be recovered from Assam.

“Out of this total amount, the Rs 554.01 crore has to be recovered from 8.35 lakh ineligible farmers in Assam,” Tomar had said.

(PTI)

Gauhati HC Upholds Assam Law to Abolish State-Run Madrassas

The Gauhati HC upheld The Assam Repealing Act, 2020, under which all government-funded madrassas are to be converted into general schools in Assam.

Guwahati: The Gauhati high court on Friday upheld The Assam Repealing Act, 2020, under which all provincialised (government-funded) madrassas are to be converted into general schools in Assam.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Soumitra Saikia said the changes brought about by the legislative and executive action of the state are for the provincialised madrassas alone, which are government schools, and not for private or community ones.

It also dismissed a writ petition challenging the validity of the Act.

The writ petition was filed by 13 individuals in the HC in 2021 against the state government’s decision to transform the state-funded madrassas to general schools.

The Court had concluded the hearing on January 27 and had reserved its judgement, which was passed on Friday.

Also read: Assam Government Tables Bill to Abolish State-Run Madrassas

“The madrassas which are wholly maintained by the state cannot impart religious instructions in terms of the mandate of Article 28(1) of the Constitution of India,” the court said in its judgement.

It also pointed that the services of the teachers of the provincialised madrassas have not been dispensed away with and they will be trained for teaching other subjects, if required.

“The division bench of the honourable high court has upheld the Assam Repealing Act of 2020, which had repealed the Madrassa provincialisation acts of 1995, 2011 and 2018,” Assam Advocate General Devojit Saikia told PTI.

In the same judgement, the high court also upheld all subsequent notifications issued by the government of Assam to convert madrassa institutions into general educational institutions.

“The court upheld the Act on the basis of Article 28(1) of the Constitution, which mandates that any educational institution cannot impart any religious instruction if such institution is wholly funded from state budget or public funds,” Saikia said.

“The Assam Repealing Act does not affect the privately or community run madrassas and will only impact 397 madrassas and four Arabic colleges run by the government,” he added.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had pushed the Assam Repeal Bill as the state education minister in 2020, tweeted, “Division Bench of Honble Gauhati high court in a landmark judgment delivered today upheld the Act of 2020 to repeal Madrassa Education Procincialisation Acts and also upheld all other notifications to convert 397 provincialised madrrassas to general educational institutions.”

The Bill was passed by the state Assembly on December 30, 2020, under which all the provincialised, government-funded madrassas were to be transformed into general schools.

It sought to abolish The Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation) Act, 1995, and The Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation of Services of Employees and Re-Organisation of Madrassa Educational Institutions) Act, 2018. Following the passage of the Bill another act relating to provincialisation of madrassas, which was passed by the state government in 2011 stood repealed.

The state government has assured that there will be no change of status, pay, allowances and service conditions of the teaching and non-teaching staff of the madrassas under the Assam Repealing Act, which was passed during the tenure of the first BJP-led government in the state.

(PTI)