The Congress government in Karnataka has told the High Court that financial constraints forced it to withhold two months’ payments under its flagship Gruha Lakshmi scheme in 2025, leaving estimated dues of Rs 4,000 crore to around one crore women.The scheme promises Rs 2,000 a month to eligible women heads of households. The unpaid instalments for February and March 2025 amount to Rs 4,000 per beneficiary.In its response to a writ petition, the government said proposals for both months had been submitted to the Finance Department, but the grants were withheld because of budget limitations.PAYMENTS DEPEND ON FUNDS, GOVT TELLS COURTThe state argued that assistance under the scheme depended on budgetary allocations and could not be claimed as an enforceable right.

It also said beneficiaries could not rely solely on the doctrine of legitimate expectation — the expectation that the government would honour its commitment to continued payments — when genuine financial constraints arose.The government has urged the Karnataka High Court to dismiss the petition against the scheme, which was launched on August 30, 2023. GOVT ADMITS PAYMENTS TO DECEASED BENEFICIARIES The scheme has separately faced scrutiny over alleged irregularities.

In June this year, audit observations linked to a CAG review prompted BJP leaders to demand a wider investigation into alleged duplicate payments, ineligible beneficiaries and gaps in verification.Facing criticism, the Karnataka government issued a detailed clarification rejecting claims of large-scale fraud. However, the Women and Child Development Department acknowledged that Rs 115 crore had been transferred to the accounts of 1.08 lakh deceased beneficiaries.The department attributed these payments to delays in receiving and updating death records.

It said recovery proceedings had begun and Rs 15.24 crore had been recovered at the time of the clarification.DEPARTMENT DENIES DUPLICATE TRANSFERSThe department said payments were processed through the Aadhaar-Based Payment System, with eligibility checks to exclude income tax payers, GST filers and deceased beneficiaries.It denied allegations of duplicate transfers, saying the system did not allow a beneficiary to receive assistance in more than one account in the same month.The government said an ongoing verification exercise was intended to identify ineligible beneficiaries and prevent misuse without affecting women entitled to assistance.- Ends