Delhi HC orders Centre to pay student Rs 50,000 in costs and third INSPIRE scholarship instalment with interest

A Delhi University student was denied the third instalment of an annual scholarship offered to him by the Department of Science and Technology under its INSPIRE programme, and the Delhi High Court has ordered the Centre to pay him Rs 50,000 as "costs" within eight weeks.

The court also mandated that the Centre pay the student's third instalment of Rs 60,000 plus interest at a rate of 6% annually. The student received the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) scholarship from the department, which is part of the Ministry of Science and Technology, in January 2017. Students must have scored the top 1% of their respective boards in Class XII in order to qualify for it stated a report by PTI.

In this instance, for the student, who belonged to an economically weaker section, the scholarship was paid out for the first two years. However, for the third year, his scholarship was not paid out.
According to the Center, a student's CGPA in the core subjects must be at least 6.0 to continue to be eligible for the programme. The guidelines clearly stated that a 6.0 CGPA was required overall, not just in the core subjects, and the court rejected the Center's argument.

According to the student's transcripts, his CGPA for the first and second semesters was 7.45, and for the third and fourth semesters, it was 6.32, both of which were higher than the necessary standard, it was stated. "There is no mention in the Post Offer Implementation Guidelines for Scholars or in the INSPIRE Scheme that a 6.0 CGPA is being required in the core subjects. Thus, the rejection/non-grant of scholarship to the petitioner (the student) is completely untenable," the court said as reported by PTI.

Justice Prathiba M Singh said the student had to discontinue his studies after BSc due to the Centre's decision to not release the third instalment. "In the overall facts and circumstances of the case, considering that the annual scholarship for the petitioner was Rs 60,000, the third year's scholarship amount i.e.Rs 60,000 along with the simple interest of 6 per cent is directed to be released to the petitioner. In addition, costs are also awarded to the petitioner to the tune of Rs 50,000. The said amount shall be paid by the respondents. The amounts shall be released within a period of eight weeks," the court said in a recent order stating the PTI report.