The Uttarakhand High Court has asked the state government to file an affidavit on a petition seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged SC/ST scholarship scam case.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Ravi Kumar Malimath and Justice Ramesh Chandra Khulbe on Tuesday asked the state government to file an affidavit in the matter within two days and slated it for further hearing on Thursday.

The plea, filed by Dehradun-residents Ravindra Jugran, AK Singh and Shubhash Nautiyal, submitted that the scholarship scam has been going on in the state since the year 2005. It said that under the alleged Rs 500 crore scam, the scholarship funds were either given to colleges instead of students or to non-students. The plea has sought a CBI or SIT probe into the matter.