Nagaland Law Students’ Federation (NLSF) has threatened the state government of legal action if the latter failed to release the scholarship to the students within seven days. NLSF general secretary, Medochutuo Kiewhuo and information and publicity secretary, Roland Zeliang questioned the apathy of the Higher Education department towards the genuine plea of the students who were demanding their due rights of scholarships.
It said the objective of scholarships was to provide financial assistance to the students to manage their educational requirements. However, NLSF said the denial of scholarship coupled with installment basis, “a first of a kind by any state in our country, was pathetic and bear signs of inefficiency and unaccountability of the department.”
NLSF said despite Centre releasing the amount, the delay in the state to disburse the scholarship was evidently a procedural lapse and negative system of the machinery.
It said that the neighbouring states have already disbursed the scholarship within the stipulated time. Taking serious note of the issue, the federation said it would not allow such unethical practices to continue. “The youths are tired and frustrated of complacency and unaccountability. It is an era where we are all aware of our rights which the department has long ignored and the ignorance will land in trouble before the authority,” it said.
While stating that “diplomatic channel” was always open to resolve issues, NLSF at the same time warned that if the government failed to act positively, it would “seek the arms of justice where justice is served and defaulter reprimanded.”
Meanwhile, NLSF has informed the students to contact the federation if they required any assistance on the issue.