SC Scholarship scam: Fresh trouble for Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, ED begins probe into grants

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar/Chandigarh, July 29

Minister for Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities Sadhu Singh Dharamsot’s problems are set to get compounded as after the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate has now started investigating the disbursal of funds under the SC Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme.

Documents sought by central agency…

• Complete record of the probe report submitted on August 24, 2020
• Certified copies of the documents pertaining to the funds received by the state under the central scheme
• Copies of the documents related to disbursal of funds by the state government to the educational institutions where the SC students were enrolled
• Copies of the end-use report submitted by the state to the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

ED officials said a preliminary inquiry had already begun and documents related to the alleged scam were being procured. The case pertains to the probe report tabled by former ACS Kirpa Shankar Saroj to the Chief Secretary on August 24, 2020, about the scam amounting to Rs 55.71 crore. He had pointed out that Rs 39 crore had been disbursed to “ghost” institutes as the records were missing and Rs 16.71 crore had been wrongly distributed to some private institutes at the behest of a Deputy Director, who had the minister’s patronage.

Meanwhile, a day after getting the official communication from the CBI regarding the preliminary inquiry registered into the alleged scam, the state government is preparing details related to the case before sending it to the central agency. A meeting of top government functionaries was held today at the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) here. Officials privy to the case said the state would provide details of the recovery made from the erring institutions for the period related to the SAD-BJP government from 2012-17. The entire record related to different probes conducted by the government in the last over 10 years was being checked, it is learnt.

The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the central agency has asked the Principal Secretary (Social Justice) for a complete record of the probe report submitted on August 24, 2020, to the Chief Secretary by then Additional Chief Secretary Kirpa Shankar Saroj.

Sources said the CBI probe was being seen as a political move by the BJP-led government at the Centre, as the state government had got the matter probed by a panel headed by Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan.

The panel was constituted after the former ACS in his report had questioned the role of Dharamsot in “shielding” those involved in the case. However, the second probe by the Chief Secretary-led team gave a clean chit to the minister, while detecting wrong payment of over Rs 7 crore to private educational institutes.