Flawed practice of Kerala University

Sir — The Union ministry of education has various schemes offering scholarships to needy students. But if they are not dispensed on time, what is the use of these scholarships? The postgraduate scholarship for rank-holders of all Indian universities for the academic session 2007-08 has been sanctioned by the University Grants Commission. The fund has been issued to the universities, and the awardees have been asked to contact the registrars of their respective institutions. However, the registrar of the University of Kerala seems reluctant to confirm when and how the students will receive the funds. As a guardian of one of the awardees, I got in touch with the registrar over this several times, but to no avail. I even submitted an RTI application enquiring about the process. In his reply to the RTI query, the registrar admitted that he has received the funds from the UGC but not the list of awardees. This is difficult to believe because the UGC is unlikely to send the funds without the list of the names of awardees. Moreover, the registrar has admitted that he knew that eight students would receive the scholarship for the given year from his university.

In fact, the registrar can easily find out who the awardees are by looking up the results of the concerned departments for the particular academic session. It is unfortunate that the toppers of a university recognized by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council are being mistreated by the institution that should have been proud of them.

K.A. Solaman