Chandigarh (Punjab): Amid continuing uproar over the post-matric scholarship scam, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday categorically said that there would be no question of handing over any investigation based in the State to the Central agencies. He asserted that the State investigation agencies are fully capable of carrying out any investigation and the question of handing over the same to any Central agency would not arise.
Bhagwant Mann's assertion came at a time when the CBI raided the house of Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia with regard to the alleged irregularities in the excise policy.
Talking to the leaders of the Valmiki community during a meeting held at Punjab Bhavan here today, the Chief Minister reiterated his government's firm commitment to punish the culprits of the post-matric scholarship scam. The culprits of this scam will not be spared and strict action will be taken against them.
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Bhagwant Mann said that the question of handing over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would not arise as the State agencies of Punjab are capable of doing it themselves.
It may be recalled the post-matric scholarship scam was exposed during the previous Congress government. Allegations were made against the then Social Security Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot in the Captain Amarinder Singh government. At that time, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) kept demanding Dharamsot's dismissal. The Congress Government stood by the side of Dharamsot.
After the AAP government came to power, CM Bhagwant Mann took the issue seriously and got hold of all the files of this scam only a few days ago. However, the Chief Minister is yet to take a further step.
Here is the post-matric scholarship scam: Post-matric scholarships are given to Scheduled Caste students in Punjab with help from the Cente. When Captain Amarinder Singh was the Chief Minister, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot was the Social Security Minister in the Punjab government. There were allegations against them that fraud took place in the distribution of scholarships.
There were no records about the disbursement of Rs. 39 crores. It was suspected that the money was distributed in the name of colleges that did not exist. Not only this, another Rs 16.91 crore was released to colleges and universities, from which Rs 8 crore was to be recovered. The allegations were that there was a scam involving over Rs 63.91 crores in this.
