Chandigarh, July 17 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has sought an affidavit from the Punjab chief secretary on the status of probe into criminal case registered into alleged post-matric scholarship fraud. "Considering the fact that allegations in the present petition is against the minister and senior officers and contradictory reports have been filed earlier in this regard, we call upon the Punjab chief secretary to file a status report clearly indicating the stage of investigation and also the action taken in the matter. It goes without saying that a fair and impartial investigation shall be conducted," the bench of acting chief justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and justice Rohit Kapoor observed while posting the matter for August 4. The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking CBI probe into post matric scholarship fraud reported in Punjab. The plea was filed by Satbir Singh Walia, a Chandigarh resident in 2020. The central government-sponsored scheme is aimed at giving scholarship to meritorious students belonging to economically weaker sections so as to provide them better opportunities for higher education. The fraud is estimated to be of Rs 500 crore. During the hearing, the state's counsel had apprised the court that probe in the criminal case is underway. The bench took note of April 6 order in which the court led by then chief justice had sought to know whether the complaint, received in the year 2023, disclosed the cognisable offence or not. If yes, then why FIR was not lodged within the stipulated period of 15 days, it asked. Subsequently, on April 16 the vigilance bureau had registered a criminal case to probe the fraud. The government in 2023 had claimed that it has sacked six officials in connection with the scam in which Rs.39 crore were released to "ghost institutes" and another Rs.16 crore given as excess payment to colleges from which money was to be recovered. There was no trace of the funds disbursed to "ghost institutes" by the officials in connivance, the government had claimed. This Rs 55 crore alleged bungling is part of larger fraud estimated at Rs 500 crore....