Out of 13,000 student claims submitted by coaching centres, only about 3,000 could be verified, alleged Delhi minister Ashish Sood.
The Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana, a scheme meant to fund free coaching at private institutes for underprivileged students during the Aam Aadmi Party government, is now at the centre of a political and financial controversy.
Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Wednesday ordered an Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) probe into an alleged Rs 145-crore scam linked to the scheme during the Covid period.
The announcement was made by Delhi’s Home and Education Minister Ashish Sood and SC/ST Welfare Minister Ravinder Indraj Singh while addressing a press conference, alleging large-scale irregularities under the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
“The Jai Bhim scheme was started to help SC/ST/OBC/EWS/Minority students prepare for competitive exams like UPSC and NEET, but during the pandemic, it became a tool for embezzlement,” Mr Sood said. He added that coaching institutes prepared a bill payment of Rs 145 crore between July 2021 and August 2022-far beyond the scheme’s original budget of Rs 15 crore.
Out of 13,000 student claims submitted by coaching centres, only about 3,000 could be verified, Mr Sood said, adding, the rest allegedly lacked documentation, signatures, or any record of attendance.
“The average coaching cost is Rs 1 lakh for IAS, Rs 50,000 for MBA/CLAT, Rs 30,000 for SSC/LIC, Rs 25,000 for Group-C exams and Rs 10,000 for interview preparation,” he said.
“Even if we consider that all 3,000 verified students took IAS coaching, the maximum cost would be around Rs 30 crore. How did it become Rs 145 crore?,” Mr Soon added. He alleged that AAP has insulted Dr Ambedkar’s legacy and turned a welfare scheme into a nexus of corruption.
Following a recommendation from Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, the LG approved a detailed probe by the ACB into what is now being referred to as an “alleged coaching scam.”
The investigation will focus on 35 coaching centres that failed to provide verified data for even 100 students, SC/ST Welfare Minister Ravinder Indraj Singh said.
He said the scheme, which began in 2018, was intended to create educational opportunities for Dalit students. “Instead, it was allegedly turned into a money-making racket. We owe it to the students to investigate this thoroughly,” Singh said.
