SC directs DMs to complete approval process so that benefit is extended

New Delhi, Aug 26 (PTI):
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the district magistrates to complete the process of approval of applications for children, registered under the ‘PM-CARES for Children’ scheme, so that those who have lost their parents or legal guardian due to the COVID-19 pandemic could get the
benefit.
The apex court came out with the direction after the Centre informed it that a separate portal has been created for the scheme and as on August 21 this year, 2,600 children have been registered on the portal by 30 states and Union Territories (UTs) and out of these, 418 applications have been approved by the district magistrates.
A bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose, while stressing on the need to support the children who have lost their parents during the pandemic, said that education of such minors should continue without any disruption in the current academic year.
At present, we direct the district magistrates to complete the process of approval of the remaining children whose names have been registered for benefit of the PM-CARES fund, the bench said.
It said in case of necessity, the fee and other expenditure of children amongst 2,600 whose names have been registered for the scheme, shall be undertaken by the Centre.
The state governments shall have a dialogue with the private schools to waive the fee for these students for the current academic year. In case, the schools are not willing to waive the fee, the state government shall bear the burden of the fee, it said.
The bench said with regard to children whose names have been registered for the PM-CARES scheme, it is open to the states to request the Centre to bear the fee and other expenses of those children who are studying in private schools for the current academic year.