HC directives too not being taken seriously by SWD
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 4: There is no end to the dilly-dallying approach on the part of Social Welfare Department in conducting fresh survey to bring thousands of left-out deserving poor girls under the purview of much-talked about State Marriage Assistance Scheme despite fixing of timelines by the State Government and explicit orders from the highest court of the State.
On the directions of the State High Court in the case titled Mohd Amin Beigh Versus State of J&K and Others, the State Marriage Assistance Scheme was launched by the PDP-BJP Coalition Government Vide Cabinet Decision No.164/13/2015 dated December 2, 2015. The scheme was accorded for implementation Vide Government Order No.248-Social Welfare of 2015 dated December 8, 2015 in all the districts of the State.
The State Marriage Assistance Scheme (SMAS) for poor girls is a social assistance scheme meant for those un-married identified girls of Jammu and Kashmir living below the poverty line who may not find themselves in a position to marry due to financial constraint. Under this scheme, all the marriageable identified poor girls are entitled to receive one-time financial assistance of Rs 25000 and cost of five grams of gold for marriage purpose.
Initially, such girls were identified by the Government through District Development Commissioners (DDCs) and brought under the purview of the social assistance scheme. However, with the passage of time it was felt that large number of deserving poor girls remained out of the purview of the scheme.
Even High Court, while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), not only found flaws in the implementation of the scheme particularly with regard to timelines for clearance of applications but also observed that large number of poor girls, who otherwise are entitled for the benefits of the scheme, could not find mention in the lists prepared by the Government.
Accordingly, in the year 2016 the Division Bench of the State High Court headed by Chief Justice directed the Government to conduct fresh survey of such girls and decide the marriage assistance applications and disburse the amount to the beneficiary within a week’s time on the receipt of application otherwise scheme would not serve any purpose.
Finally, the Government Vide Order No.33-Social Welfare of 2017 dated January 31, 2017 directed all the District Social Welfare Officers to conduct a fresh survey to include left out deserving girls in the scheme, official sources told EXCELSIOR. However, this exercise has not been completed by the District Social Welfare Officers till date despite lapse of over one year.
During the just concluded Budget Session of the State Legislature the Government had stated that survey was almost complete and fresh lists would be issued shortly so as to bring more deserving girls under the ambit of the scheme in shortest possible time.
However, this statement has turned misleading as Minister of State for Social Welfare, Asiea Naqash few days back directed the Social Welfare Department to conduct fresh survey for State Marriage Assistance Scheme to enable maximum number of poor girls to get financial assistance. She, while chairing a review meeting of the department, expressed the hope that the survey would be completed by the end of March.
“All this clearly establishes that survey which was ordered more than one year back has yet not been completed by the Social Welfare Department”, sources said, adding it was not difficult for the District Social Welfare Officers to complete the assigned task in the shortest possible time and only slackness is responsible for the prevailing situation.
When contacted, Commi-ssioner/Secretary Social Welfare Department Sajad Ahmad Khan confirmed that fresh lists have yet not been prepared by the department. “The District Social Welfare Officers have almost completed the exercise and I will be taking meeting within next few days so as to finalize the lists”, he said while admitting that large number of deserving poor girls remained out of the purview of the scheme when the survey was conducted before the launch of the social assistance scheme.
According to the official data, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR, a total of 298 girls were provided assistance under this scheme in 2015-16 while as 3821 girls obtained benefits of the scheme in 2016-17. In the year 2017-18, a total of 4947 girls were given assistance by the Social Welfare Department under the scheme.
It is pertinent to mention here that the prospective beneficiary girl should be identified poor girl in the survey list available with the District Development Commissioner and District Social Welfare Officer, should be above 18 years of age and should have not availed the benefit for the same purpose under any other State or Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
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