Urgent Need To Streamline Process Of Requiring Income Certificates Under National Overseas Scholarship Scheme: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has said that there is an "urgent need to streamline" the process relating to the "requirement of income certificates" under the National Overseas Scholarship (NOS) Scheme. “There is lack of clarity in the existing procedure, which places undue hardship upon candidates who otherwise fulfill the substantive eligibility criteria,” Justice Sachin Datta said.NOS scheme is offered by Central Government to provide scholarships for low-income Scheduled Caste, Denotified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes, Students with Disabilities etc, to pursue Master's or Ph.D. courses abroad.The Court was dealing with two pleas filed by Manish Kumar and Vishal Kumar, raising a common grievance of denial of their applications for scholarships under the Scheme in question for the academic year 2025-26.Manish Kumar received an unconditional offer to pursue MSc in Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His name appeared in the rejected list with the reason cited as “Income Certificate of valid FY not furnished.”It was reasoned that his Income Certificate did not explicitly refer to or mention the financial year and, thus, his application was rejected. On the other hand, Vishal Kumar secured an unconditional offer to pursue MSc in Computer Science at the University of Glasgow. Similar reason was cited for rejection of his application. It was their case that the authorities denied them the benefit of the scholarship on wholly untenable grounds. They said that the authorities were insisting upon income certificates in formats that were at variance with the practice and procedure adopted by the Delhi Government for issuance of such certificates.Granting relief to the petitioners, the Court said that the rejection of their application on the ground of alleged infirmity or deficiency in their income certificates was untenable.“It is not disputed that the income certificate issued by the GNCTD is in a particular format over which the petitioner has no control. It is also not controverted by the respondents that the only reason for the rejection of the petitioners' application seeking scholarship was the infirmity in their income certificate. There is no dispute that, on all other counts, the petitioners are eligible for the scholarship,” the Court said. Allowing the pleas, the Court directed the authorities to immediately process the grant of requisite scholarship to the petitioners under the National Overseas Scholarship (NOS) Scheme. It added that the requisite formalities shall be completed expeditiously so as to enable the petitioners to join the concerned universities, prior to the prescribed deadlines. Closing the matter, Justice Datta ordered:“It is also imperative for the GNCTD to update its formats so that the income certificates issued by it expressly reflect the financial year/ period to which it pertains, rather than the same being a matter of inference. The respondents, including the GNCTD, shall, accordingly, take appropriate steps in this regard.”Title: MANISH KUMAR v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS & other connected matterCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 1205Click Here To Read Order

Urgent Need To Streamline Process Of Requiring Income Certificates Under National Overseas Scholarship Scheme: Delhi High Court

Nupur Thapliyal

Delhi High Court Bats For Streamlining Process Of Requiring Income Certificates Under National Overseas Scholarship Scheme

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