Maharashtra Government Allows Offline Scholarship Applications For SC Students
Pune, 17th October 2024: An important change has been made to prevent academic loss for Scheduled Caste students whose scholarship applications are pending on the Maharashtra State Government’s Maha DBT website. Students from the academic years 2018-19 to 2023-24 are now allowed to submit their applications offline, with a deadline of 30th November. The Social Justice & Special Assistance Department of the Maharashtra Government issued a decision regarding this matter. Eligible students benefit from scholarship schemes through the Maha DBT website.
Between 2018-19 and 2023-24, while implementing the post-matric scholarship scheme through the MahaDBT system, various difficulties led to many students’ applications being automatically rejected despite submitting them within the deadline. Students faced issues such as delays in receiving exam results, making it difficult to fill out application forms on time, and problems renewing their applications for subsequent years. As a result, eligible students were unable to receive the scholarship benefits.
Given this situation, the Information Technology Department provided feedback recommending a departmental-level decision. A procedure has now been implemented for handling pending applications under the Scholarship-Freeship scheme. Students whose applications were rejected on Maha DBT due to the absence of Aadhaar registration can now submit their applications offline by providing their Aadhaar certificates. Those who had their online applications rejected can also submit offline applications.
However, the offline application must include the reasons for rejection (including a screenshot of the application status on the system) and the corrected application details. The rejected application number must be provided when submitting the offline application, as applications without this information will not be considered.
For students who did not fill out applications on the Maha DBT system or whose applications were not approved due to delays in determining college fees or releasing exam results, they can now submit offline applications with a valid rationale. However, the scholarship will only be granted if the reason provided is deemed relevant.
If the student’s online application was rejected for not meeting government criteria, such as income limits or caste verification, and was rejected at the college level or by the Assistant Commissioner of Social Welfare, those students are not eligible to submit offline applications. Additionally, if a course is not mapped on the Maha DBT system, the offline application will not be accepted. All other criteria, including the submission of required documents, will apply to the offline process.
Students must ensure that both online and offline applications are not submitted for the same student. An affidavit must be provided when completing the online application. Furthermore, there is a warning of criminal action against any student found to have submitted applications in both formats.
