The bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Berry, hearing the matter, took on record a key central document outlining the rules for the housing scheme (File)The Punjab and Haryana High Court Tuesday issued notice to the Punjab Government and central authorities directing to explain why thousands of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) residents were dropped from the list of beneficiaries for the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) without any warning or inspection.The bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Berry, hearing the matter, took on record a key central document outlining the rules for the housing scheme and flagged procedural lapses in the state’s handling.Struck off waiting list ahead of Gidderbaha bypollThe Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by Sukhjeet Kaur, 48, a daily wage labourer from Chak Giljwala village in Muktsar district, spotlights what she describes as “blatant misuse of power” driven by local electoral politics. Kaur, who lives in a flimsy makeshift home with her husband Raj Singh, alleged that she and scores of others like her – all initially cleared for homes under the Centre’s PMAY-G – were struck off the permanent waiting list just months before last year’s bypoll in the Gidderbaha Assembly segment.Kaur’s plea, argued by her counsel Nikhil Ghai, paints a picture of quiet desperation among Punjab’s rural underclass. In 2019, when the state prepared its permanent voter list, often used as a base for welfare schemes, Kaur and her neighbours were verified as eligible for PMAY-G, the flagship rural housing initiative launched by the Centre in 2015 to provide pucca homes to the poorest.They even received Awaas Plus IDs, unique identifiers that locked their spot on the permanent waiting list (PWL), promising a dignified roof over their heads. But in July 2024, a sudden “verification drive” by the Punjab government upended everything. Letters dated July 9, 2024, and February 6, 2025, both annexed to the petition, informed Kaur that her name had been removed from the list after a re-check.‘Politically motivated exercise’Advocate Ghai urged the court to quash what he said was an “arbitrary and politically motivated exercise” undertaken by the state of Punjab, through which 6,952 eligible SC/ST beneficiaries, including the petitioner, were excluded from the PWL under the PMAY-G scheme. He submitted that these beneficiaries had already been verified, but were removed without any notice or stated reason.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Pradhan Mantri Awas YojanaPunjab and Haryana High Court