The Punjab and Haryana High Court has summoned the Principal Secretaries of Punjab’s Higher Education, Finance, and Scheduled Caste and Backward Classes Welfare Departments to appear on November 4 to explain why scholarship funds owed to Panjab University (PU) have not been disbursed. The court also directed that a senior official from the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, familiar with the case, attend the hearing. The case, filed by Janak Raj and others, involves students whose degrees and certificates have been withheld by PU pending reimbursement of fees under the Post Matric Scholarship scheme for Scheduled Caste students. In a previous hearing, the court had summoned PU’s Vice Chancellor (VC) and Registrar, who appeared via video conference and stated that decisions from the university’s Senate and Syndicate would be submitted to the court. Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri, presiding over the case, expressed concern that hundreds of students’ degrees and Detailed Marks Certificates (DMCs) have been retained due to non-payment by the state. He noted that while the students had completed their exams, the …