New Delhi, April 10 -- More than 20,000 students from SC/ST and OBC communities in Delhi have not received tuition fee reimbursements for years due to their bank accounts not being linked with Aadhaar, officials said, flagging a long-standing implementation gap in a key welfare scheme.

The pending payments date back to the 2016-17 academic session. A review of financial assistance programmes initiated after the current administration took office last year found that 52,291 eligible students had not received reimbursements for nearly a decade. Following verification of documents and beneficiary details, the government disbursed over Rs.99.10 crore to 31,954 students.

However, 20,637 students are still awaiting payments amounting to more ...