The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Jammu and Kashmir has unearthed a multi-crore rupee scam involving large-scale bungling in the post-matric scholarship scheme meant for Scheduled Tribe (ST) students.
The scam involved not only the owners of private computer institutes but also the then Director of Tribal Affairs, J&K, who has been booked for his alleged role in misappropriating funds meant for underprivileged ST students residing in remote areas of the Union Territory.
Fake lists of ST students were prepared, and computer training was shown to have been imparted to them—only on paper—to fraudulently siphon off the funds sanctioned by the Union Government under the scheme.
ACB Registers Case Against Ex-Director and Private Institutes
ACB Jammu has registered a formal case (FIR No. 09/2025) under Sections 5(1)(c)(d) read with Section 5(2) of the J&K Prevention of Corruption Act, Svt. 2006, and Section 120-B of the RPC at Police Station ACB Jammu against M.S. Choudhary, the then Director of Tribal Affairs J&K (now retired), and several others.
Those booked in the case include:
- Shanaz Akhtar Malik, Catalog Computers, Auqaf Complex, Jammu
- Humera Banu & Firdous Ahmed, Chirag Institute of IT, Channi Himmat, Jammu
- Sham Lal Targotra, JKS-Industrial Training Institute (ITI), Jindar Mehlu, R.S. Pura
- Jaffer Hussain Wani, Ever Green Institute of Computer Technology, Shastri Nagar, Jammu
- Parshotam Bharadwaj, Global Institute of IT, Janipur, Jammu
- Ramneek Kour, Pankaj Memorial Charitable Trust for Education and Research, Rajpura, Subash Nagar
- Puneet Mahajan, Supertech (India) Computer Education, Talab Tillo
They have been charged with gross violations of guidelines and the release of crores of rupees to unrecognized institutes for unapproved courses while implementing the post-matric scholarship scheme sponsored by the Government of India for ST students.
Computer training only on paper
During verification, it was revealed that the Government of India had launched the post-matric scholarship scheme to help ST students complete their education by providing financial assistance—Rs 18,000 per student, plus Rs 2,300 as maintenance allowance.
The scheme aimed to support ST students studying at the post-matriculation or post-secondary stage by reimbursing compulsory fees charged by recognized institutions.
However, fake lists of ST students were created. Private institutes based in Jammu managed to obtain documents of students from far-flung areas and submitted them to the Directorate of Tribal Affairs. Without verifying the authenticity of the institutes, infrastructure, or course content, and without ensuring the end use of scholarship funds, officials disbursed crores of rupees directly into the bank accounts of these institutions between 2014 and 2018.
Verification further revealed that many students in whose names payments were made had neither enrolled nor attended the computer courses. Some had enrolled but never attended classes or did so only partially. Still, the full tuition fees were credited to the respective institutes.
One institute even increased its reported student strength by collecting documents of ST students from remote areas and submitting scholarship forms on their behalf. In some cases, fake bank accounts were opened in the names of ST students without their knowledge or consent, as the form required an account number to credit the maintenance allowance.
Moreover, several institutes lacked proper accreditation from NIELIT, yet funds were still disbursed to them.
Massive loss to government exchequer
By abusing their official positions and acting in criminal conspiracy with institute owners and other beneficiaries, officials of the Directorate of Tribal Affairs manipulated records, violated the guidelines of the post-matric scholarship scheme, and misappropriated a huge amount of government funds during the period 2014 to 2018. This has caused a significant loss to the government exchequer.
