Patna,(BiharTimes): The Bihar Human Rights Commission took suo motu cognizance of reports of SC/ST students of the state compelled to leave an engineering college in Bhubaneswar due to the alleged failure of the state government to pay stipend to them.

The BHRC on Tuesday issued notice to the Principal Secretary (SC/ST Welfare Department) to submit a reply by April 25 next.

According to Neelmani, a member of BHRC, the Commission has taken suo motu cognizance of news reports about the SC/ST students of Bihar being forced to leave Rajdhani Engineering College, (REC), Bhubaneswar due to failure of the state government to pay their stipend.

He said that the SC/ST Welfare Department Secretary had earlier informed the BHRC that the department had so far received approximately one lakh applications for such scholarships.

In all Rs 70.9 crore had been sanctioned for 43,047 students of Bihar studying in 4,348 Engineering Colleges in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand. The manual verification with respect of remaining 50,000 students will be completed in a month and the stipend amount transferred through RTGS to the college/Institutions concerned, Neelmani added.