Karnataka Tells High Court Budget Constraints Withheld Two Months Of Gruha Lakshmi Payments

The Congress government in Karnataka has told the High Court it could not pay two months of Gruha Lakshmi aid in 2025 for want of budget funds, leaving about Rs 4,000 crore due to around one crore women.

That stand came in its reply to a writ petition seeking release of the arrears. Launched on August 30, 2023, the scheme pays Rs 2,000 a month to eligible women heads of households. Dues for February and March 2025 work out to Rs 4,000 per beneficiary.

Proposals for both months went to the Finance Department, but the grants were held back for lack of budget provision, the government said.

Assistance depended on budgetary allocation and was not an enforceable right, it argued. Beneficiaries could not claim continued payments on legitimate expectation alone once genuine financial constraints arose, the reply said. The state has asked for the petition to be dismissed.

Rs 115 crore paid to dead, state admits

The scheme has also faced questions over alleged irregularities after audit observations linked to a CAG review in June this year prompted BJP leaders to demand a wider probe into alleged duplicate payments, ineligible beneficiaries and verification gaps.

In its clarification, the Women and Child Development Department denied large-scale fraud but admitted Rs 115 crore reached accounts of 1.08 lakh deceased beneficiaries. The lapse was put down to late receipt and updating of death records. Recovery had started, with Rs 15.24 crore recovered when the clarification was issued, it said.

Payments went through the Aadhaar-Based Payment System after checks to keep out income tax payers, GST filers and deceased beneficiaries, the Department said. It denied duplicate transfers, saying the system blocked more than one credit to a beneficiary in the same month. A verification drive was on to weed out ineligible names without stopping aid to entitled women, it said.

The High Court will now hear the plea for release of arrears against the state's plea for dismissal.