SC okays Maharashtra plan for ₹25 crore lying in court registry for years

The money, lying with the Supreme Court registry, was to be returned to Maharashtra government on the condition that it should be used for issues of juvenile justice.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday approved a plan submitted by the Maharashtra government to provide a one-time financial assistance of ₹10,000 to every child in the state who lost both or either parents due to Covid-19 to help meet their educational expenses such as school fee, hostel fee and purchase of educational material.

A sum of ₹25.53 crore will be transferred to the Juvenile Justice Fund by the Supreme Court registry which will, in turn, give ₹10,000 each to children who lost either both or one parents due to Covid-19 pandemic (Burhaan Kinu/HT File PHOTO)

The plan came in response to a court order of September 13 when the state government was informed about ₹25 crore lying with the Supreme Court registry. The money was to be returned to the state government under a December 2016 order on the condition that it must be utilised for “issues of juvenile justice”.

In Maharashtra, 20,407 children lost one of their parents due to Covid-19 since April 2020; another 635 lost both parents. The court wanted the state government to come out with a plan to utilise the amount for the benefit of Covid-affected children.

For the state, advocate Sachin Patil submitted an affidavit by principal secretary, women and child development indicating three options. Of them, the bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and BV Nagarathna zeroed in on the option that spoke about transferring ₹25.53 crore into the Juvenile Justice Fund that will give the money to affected children to meet their educational expenses such as school fees, hostel fees and educational material and equipment.

“This option will be beneficial from all perspectives,” the bench said, noting that the district task force will be given the responsibility to distribute the amount after scrutinising need-based applications, following which a report will be submitted to the women and child development commissioner at Pune.

Satisfied with the state’s plan, the bench directed the release of the money to the Juvenile Justice Fund.

In December 2016, the Supreme Court held a medical college in the state at fault for admitting students in violation of standards prescribed by the then Medical Council of India. The court had directed the Maharashtra government to deposit ₹20 crore with the Court and recover the same from the defaulting medical college. This amount, over a period of time swelled with interest to ₹25.53 crore.

Patil told the Court that this order should not come in the way of the state government to recover the ₹20 crore amount from the erring college. The bench accordingly stated in its order, “This order shall not, in any manner, affect the recovery of an amount of ₹20 crore from the defaulting institution as already directed by us”.