SC fines Telangana govt Rs 1 lakh over student’s scholarship

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the Telangana government, ordering it to pay the amount within two weeks.

This decision arose from a case where a student from Telangana applied for assistance under the Ambedkar Overseas Education Fund.

The government rejected the application, stating that the student’s father’s annual income exceeded Rs 2 lakh. In response, the student’s father approached the High Court.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the High Court ordered that the student be granted a scholarship of Rs 10 lakh for 2023. However, 161 days later, the Telangana government challenged this ruling.

The High Court dismissed this petition on September 9 of this year. Subsequently, the state government appealed to the Supreme Court on October 19.

During the hearing, which took place before Justices Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, the Supreme Court expressed anger over the Telangana government’s delay of 161 days in filing a writ petition in the High Court. Consequently, it dismissed the petition and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the state government.