NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MAY 21
The Tamil Nadu government has approached the Supreme Court, accusing the Modi administration of stopping its annual share of crucial education funds to the tune of over ₹2,000-crore under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme.
- The suit was filed under the Constitution’s Article 131, dealing with the court’s power to decide on Union government-state disputes
- The Union government has sought to link the release of funds to the acceptance of the NEP and another central scheme, PM SHRI Schools: TN Govt
The TN government has claimed that its opposition to the National Education Policy has made the Centre to withhold a sum of over ₹ 2,291 crore.
In a suit filed on Tuesday, the state sought release of funds under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme (SSS) for 2024-25. It said the funds were withheld due to the state’s refusal to adopt the NEP and opposition to the three-language policy, which includes Hindi.
“The defendant by withholding the plaintiff’s entitlement to receive funds under the SSS is an ignorance of the doctrine of co-operative federalism, usurpation of the Constitutional power of the plaintiff State to legislate under Entry 25, List III and seeks to coerce and force the plaintiff State to implement the NEP-2020 throughout the state in its entirety and to deviate from the education regime followed in the plaintiff state.”
Chief minister MK Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government has maintained that the Union government has sought to link the release of funds to the acceptance of the NEP and another central scheme, PM SHRI Schools.
The fresh suit said the memorandum of understanding of the PM SHRI Schools dictates NEP implementation in Tamil Nadu in its entirety. It added that this was not agreeable to the state due to the opposition to Clause 4.13 of the NEP, envisaging a three-language formula. “Such coercive tactics are neither legally permissible nor consistent with state legislation, particularly in light of the two-language formula adopted by the state,” the suit said.
The suit was filed under the Constitution’s Article 131, dealing with the court’s power to decide on Union government-state disputes. It said the withholding of its “obligatory share” under the SSS has crippled the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and impacted over 4.39 million students, 221,000 teachers and 32,701 school staff.
The suit said that for the financial year 2024-25, the Project Approval Board in February 2024, after being satisfied with the state’s due compliance with all the components under the SSS, allocated a total of ₹3585.99 crore as the total outlay for expenditure under the scheme. “As under the 60:40 sharing basis, the Central share amounted to ₹2151,59,61,000 out of the total budget outlay that was due and payable to the state from April 1, 2024.”
