LUCKNOW: Serious procedural violations and financial irregularities have surfaced in the distribution of scholarships by the social welfare department under the pre-matric and post-matric schemes for the 2025-26 financial year, prompting the state govt to order a detailed inquiry and recovery of excess payments.Scholarship and fee reimbursement amounts running into crores of rupees were released on Jan 25, 2026, covering all student categories.However, a subsequent review revealed that in several cases involving general category students, mandatory group-wise capping norms were not applied. This resulted in excess scholarship payments beyond the prescribed limits.Initial inquiry conducted by the social welfare department revealed that scholarship demand data for certain categories was downloaded from NIC portal using the official login credentials of a deputy director-level officer responsible for the scheme.Despite the sensitive nature of the financial data, it was allegedly not subjected to any verification, scrutiny, or formal approval at any stage of the process.“Notwithstanding the absence of checks, a bill based on this unverified data was allegedly prepared on Jan 21, 2026, in apparent violation of established financial rules and scholarship disbursement procedures,” an official privy to the development said.“Concerns were raised when a file was subsequently forwarded through e-office system containing only district-wise student numbers and the total amount involved. The file allegedly did not include any authorised demand, bill copy, or supporting documents, raising questions over the legitimacy of the process,” he said.“Further scrutiny revealed that no formal scholarship demand was submitted through the prescribed process for current financial year. Despite this, bills were generated without proper validation, pointing to serious lapses in financial control mechanisms,” he added.Taking cognisance of the matter, secretary, social welfare department, Pramod Kumar Upadhyay on Friday gave written instructions to director, social welfare department, Sanjeev Singh, to fix responsibility for the lapses, submit a detailed report to the govt, and ensure recovery of the excess amount.Director Sanjeev Singh told TOI that the details of the issue were still being ascertained, and a comprehensive verification exercise was underway.“Digital records indicate that data entry was carried out using the login ID of a deputy director-level officer associated with the scheme. The payments exceeded the permitted cap in some cases. Once verification is complete, recovery will be initiated as per rules,” the director said.Officials familiar with the process explained that scholarship demand data is initially generated by NIC and then verified at the district level by a district committee.After verification, the consolidated demand data is forwarded to the department through the login of a planning officer or deputy director-level officer. At the directorate level, the data is reviewed jointly by technical officers and senior officials to ensure compliance with rules and guidelines.During this stage, incorrect or incomplete entries are blocked and sent back to districts for re-verification. Only the filtered and verified data is used for bill generation. If, for example, out of 10 entries two are found incorrect, those two are blocked and the bill is generated only for the remaining eight eligible students.After bill generation, a token is raised through the cash section and forwarded to the public finance management system (PFMS) for payment.In this case, the due process was circumvented by the officials concerned.An official said that excess payments to general category students occurred because prescribed caps were not applied. Under existing norms, scholarship limits are capped at Rs 50,000 for Group-1 courses, Rs 30,000 for Group-2, Rs 20,000 for Group-3, and Rs 10,000 for Group-4.Any amount paid beyond these limits must be recovered using the prescribed govt receipt system.“The inquiry is expected to determine accountability for lapses and recommend corrective measures to prevent recurrence of such irregularities,” said the official source.
