The University Grants Commission (UGC) has urged all its member universities and educational institutions to pay all the scholarship dues to students under nine categories.

In a release dated 25.02.2016, Jaspal S. Sandhu, secretary of UGC, has urged that the universities and institutions should pay scholarships up to 31.03.2016 under the categories.

Scholarships are being provided by the UGC to students who have cleared the NET-JRF and those who are eligible for the D.S. Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellowships in Sciences, BSR Fellowships in Sciences for Students, Post-Doctoral Fellowship for Women (unemployed), Post-Doctoral Fellowships for SCs/STs, Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship for SC/ST Candidates, Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students, BSR Faculty Fellowship, and PG Scholarship to GATE/GPAT qualified candidates.

According to sources, even as the grants were being provided by the UGC to the institutions, most of the scholarships did not reach the candidates in time as the funds provided were not sufficient.

Sources also claimed that the institutions do not pay the scholarships from their pockets and this further delayed the payments. In some cases, the scholarships would reach the students as late as after a year, as the grants would be delayed by the UGC. In an attempt to solve this issue, the UGC had further directed the institutions to pay all the scholarships without fail even if there is a shortage of funds.

“The universities are requested to pay out of the grants already released by UGC, or from their own resources which will be reimbursed,” Sandhu said, in a circular.