Lucknow, Aug 11 The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government to release pending non-recurring grants to two juvenile homes in the state within six weeks, expressing "surprise and shock" over funds not being paid for nearly three years.
A Lucknow bench of justices Rajan Roy and Jaspreet Singh, while hearing a PIL filed by Anoop Gupta, said it has been monitoring the timely grant of funds to the NGOs working for welfare of children who need special care.
The court was then informed that while most NGO-run homes had received their grants, dues to Gramin Vikas Samiti, Charu Gonda and Rajsi Development and Research Sansthan remained pending since 2023-24.
At this, the bench observed that had the grants been released when they were due, the homes could have utilised the funds at the relevant time.
It warned that continued delay could compel it to consider compensating the two homes for the delayed payment.
The court was also informed that Rs 46 lakh towards non-recurring expenditure was payable to Drishti Samajik Sanstha. The state assured the court that the amount would be paid by the end of August from funds received from the Centre.
Directing release of the pending grants within six weeks, the bench asked the Centre and state to coordinate and streamline the procedure for timely disbursement. It suggested that grants should preferably be released in not more than two instalments.
The matter has been listed for September 28 for the next hearing.
