By TC News Desk
Agartala, 2nd April 2025: In a major crackdown on scholarship fraud, the Tripura Tribal Welfare Department has issued show cause notices to 34 students for allegedly submitting fake income certificates to avail the Scheduled Tribe (ST) Post-Matric Scholarship for the academic year 2023-24.
The department has warned that failure to provide a valid explanation within 15 days could lead to the filing of FIRs against them.
Subhasish Das, Director of the Tribal Welfare Department, stated that an administrative inquiry revealed that the students in question had uploaded fraudulent income certificates while applying for the scholarship through the National Scholarship Portal (NSP).
“The use of fake documents to claim scholarship benefits amounts to misappropriation of public funds, forgery, and fraud against the sanctioning authority. Such acts are considered criminal offences. Therefore, these 34 students have been directed to explain why legal proceedings should not be initiated against them,” Das said.
The department has set 15 days of time, as the deadline for the accused students to submit their responses. If they fail to do so, the authorities will proceed with legal action against them without further consideration.
According to official sources, the students implicated in the alleged fraud belong to various districts across the state, including 13 from Sepahijala, 8 from West Tripura, 4 from Khowai, 3 from Gomati, 2 from Dhalai, 2 from South Tripura, and one each from North and Unakoti districts.
