Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir has directed authorities to take action against those who have filed fake affidavits in a bid to avail benefits under State Marriage Assistance Scheme (SMAS).
Under SMAS, an eligible poor girl beneficiary will be entitled to one-time financial assistance of Rs 25,000 and five grams of gold from district social welfare officers (DSWOs),
“We are informed that certain false affidavits have been submitted by the applicants/ beneficiaries. If that be the case, there is nothing to prevent the authorities from taking action in accordance with law,” said a division bench of Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Kumar during a suo-moto Public Interest Litigation. As the hearing of the PIL started, deputy advocate general Hashim Hussain submitted an affidavit on behalf of Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Social Welfare Department. As per the affidavit, the proposal for modification of Form-1 has been submitted and the same shall be modified within two weeks.
by virtue of the order on 13 June last year, several provisions of the SMAS for poor girls were interpreted by the court and it was ordered that information sought at sr.no.8 of Form-I of the Scheme with regard to date of marriage and documentary evidence would not be necessary where such documentary evidence was not available.
The affidavit with regard to the details concerning the average time taken between the receipt of applications and grant of benefit under the scheme as also the duration of pendency of applications which have not yet been either allowed or rejected, has yet not been filed, the court observed. “The affidavit with regard to the same shall be filed within two weeks,” the court said, adding that if it was not filed, the Commissioner Secretary shall appear in person on next date of hearing posted on September 18.
The government also informed the court that 4114 cases have been sanctioned till ending March this year and during the current financial year, 1158 cases stand sanctioned, making the total sanctioned number of cases as 5272 under SMAS scheme upto August 21.
