Student ordered to return accidental disbursement of MVR 33,000 from Zakat Fund

The Civil Court on Wednesday ordered a woman from GA. Vilingili to return an accidental disbursement of an extra MVR 33,000 she received from the Zakat Fund to complete her higher education during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The woman had applied for financial aid from the Zakat Fund under a special program launched by the Islamic Ministry in 2020 for students whose higher education got disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The financial aid under the program had been capped at MVR 100,000. But the student, a native of Vilingili, was disbursed an extra MVR 33,694 – an error that the Islamic Ministry was alerted to by a fellow student.

The Islamic Ministry said it sent nine letters to the student asking her to return the extra money, before filing a lawsuit after she failed to do so.

During the pre-trial, the student argued that the disbursement wasn’t irregular, and raised procedural issues seeking to toss the case from the court.

However, these procedural issues were rejected by the court.

She did not provide a defense to the case against her, and nor did she attend any further hearings.

The Civil Court therefore issued its judgement on Wednesday in her absence, ordering her to return the extra MVR 33,694.