THE Supreme Court of India should be complimented for pulling up the government and asking it for explanation about the alleged misuse of the hostels meant for the students belonging to the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes built at the expense of public funds. Under utilisation and abuse of such accommodations have been detected in various parts of the country. Such a sorry state of affairs would not have come to the notice of the public and the highest court in the country unless a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was not filled in the same court by a students’ organization. It is indeed a major setback to the government committed to the welfare of the underprivileged in the society when it was asked by the Supreme Court how hostels meant for the ST and SC students   under central scheme  are being used as police stations, beggars’ homes and schools.

Alarmed by the details given in the petition by the students’ organizations, a bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan had issued notices to the Centre, States and the Union Territories to submit reports on the allegation within a stipulated period of time. It may be recalled that the scheme has been floated jointly by the Ministries for Social Justice and Tribal Affairs for providing the students belonging to the backward classes a level playing field and taking up educational pursuits in quality educational centers.

For this purpose, the students of this category are provided hostels for middle, secondary, college and university education. The Central government had granted Rs.1.31 crore for the first time in 1998—099 which was increased to Rs.11.45 crore in 2001-02 and Rs.12.76 crore in 2004-05 to benefit 5,821 students. This is really substantial money granted from the central exchequer. On the basis of the details provided to the court by the petitioner a home for beggars functioned from a hostel reserved for ST/SC girl students at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. In West Bengal, a hostel constructed at an expenditure of Rs. 31.25 lakhs houses police personnel. Similar were the cases of three hostels for STs in Jharkhand and two hostels in West Bengal where the police have encroached upon the hostels meant for the SC/ST students. In the Northeastern state of Manipur too, as many as five hostels constructed in 2001-02 and 2005-06 have been converted to  school and college buildings while a Merchant Navy Training Institute operates from a boys’ hostel in Meerut constructed at a cost of Rs.18.71 lakhs. In addition to alleged misuse of hostels meant for ST/SC students, other aspects relating to their under utilization has shocked the Supreme Court.

In such a hostel located at Shahpur in Karnataka having 100 students, there are only two toilets forcing the students to wait in long queues to use these basic facilities. Is it not inhuman attitude on the part of the concerned authorities? Several hostels in Andhra Pradesh have no drinking water supply at all and there is shortage of staff to function as wardens. In terms of capacity, most of the hostels for STs and SCs are overcrowded with some hostels having three to six times more occupants than their capacity. There may be some truth that the reason can be attributed to allowing of non ST/SC students in such reserved accommodation and non completion of the projects despite allocation of funds.

The court has also taken note of the allegation that in Uttar Pradesh out of 41 hotels allotted funds, only 27 were constructed during 2001-06. But of these only 10 were functional. Even among these, eight have no furniture and the posts of staff and warden have not been sanctioned.

The problem with the various ministries at the Centre and the states is that they are under the misconception that their obligations and responsibilities are over after sanctioning projects and providing funds. But what is more important is to ensure proper execution of the projects and utilization of the funds. There is lack of proper monitoring of the projects. And the babus defend themselves,  throwing their hands in the wind and saying monitoring functioning of the projects is not their mandate. They are absolutely correct.Therefore, before sanctioning a scheme; the government must ensure that there is a mechanism for its execution and operation for the targeted people. If this cannot be done, then there is no fun in announcing and approving project after project at the cost of the national exchequer. This is the lesson one has learnt after the highest court in the country was compelled to issue notices to the Central and States Governments as well as the heads of the Union Territories regarding malfunctioning and improper utilization of the hostels meant for ST and SC students.

Pranab Kumar Chakravarty