MADURAI
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered notice to the Centre and the State on a public interest litigation petition that sought a direction to extend the post matric scholarship to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students admitted under the management quota.
A Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and B. Pugalendhi ordered notice and adjourned the hearing till August 20. The petition was filed by K. Palanivelu of Madurai, who challenged the new Post Matric Scheme, 2018, that restricted the scholarship to students admitted under the government quota alone.
The petitioner said the scheme was introduced to provide financial assistance to SC and ST students studying post-matriculation to enable them to complete their education.
The petitioner pointed out that under the new scheme introduced in 2018 the scholarship was denied to students admitted under the management quota. The scheme was discriminatory in nature and violated Article 46 (Promotion of education and economic interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections) and Article 14 (Equality before law) of the Constitution.
The petitioner sought a direction to extend the scheme to students admitted under the management quota too.
