Legislators’ Grants: Institutionalized Corruption in Karnataka

 When development becomes a private kitty for MLAs, officials, and contractors, the public is left with crumbs.

A Dangerous Practice Becomes Policy

Karnataka is witnessing a troubling spectacle. Legislators—both MLAs and MLCs—are demanding funds directly from the government, and successive regimes have obliged under the guise of shasakarige anudaana (grants to legislators). What began as a dubious practice has now become state policy. The present government, earlier accused of favouring only its party members, has extended the kitty even to opposition legislators. Across party lines, there is celebration—but what is really being legitimized is plunder.

Development Hijacked

Instead of being guided by impartial assessments of constituency or district needs, development has been hijacked by patronage. Legislators dictate projects, corner contracts, and control bills. The result is a nexus among people’s representatives, contractors, and officials, ensuring that public funds are drained well before a single road, school, or drain is completed.

CAG Red Flags

This culture has existed for decades under MLA Local Area Development Schemes (MLALADS), which the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has repeatedly flagged as fertile ground for corruption.
Recent CAG findings expose the scale of misuse:

·        ₹187.81 crore released to private temples between 2017-18 and 2021-22, often without proposals. In some cases, temples received up to ₹3 crore when the ceiling was ₹25 lakh.

·        78 Personal Deposit (PD) accounts in the state held ₹4,105 crore of unspent balances in March 2022. These funds, instead of being returned to the State Consolidated Fund, remain parked in opaque channels—a “serious risk of misutilisation, fraud and misappropriation,” according to the CAG.

·        The Social Welfare Department wasted ₹14 crore on chapati machines for hostels, most lying idle. In Yadgiri, nearly ₹55 lakh siphoned off from MPs’ development grants was traced to false documents and missing works.

The evidence is overwhelming: when legislators control funds, accountability vanishes.

Opposition’s Hypocrisy

Opposition MLAs, once crying foul over being “starved” of development money, are now rejoicing at the government’s generosity. This shows the truth: these grants were never about development. They are about securing a share of the loot. Nearly half the money earmarked for development—sometimes more—is swallowed by inflated bills, ghost works, and commissions.

Democracy at Risk

The consequences are grave. Development planning is replaced by bargaining. Legislators become contractors in spirit, watchdogs no more. The bureaucracy adapts to a culture of extraction, while contractors thrive on quid pro quo. Civil society remains muted, political parties are complicit, and the state’s fiscal health suffers as crores vanish.

Time to Scrap the System

Unless scrapped altogether, these legislator-controlled grants will remain legalized loot, sanctified by every government. Perhaps it is time for the judiciary to ask whether development funds can continue to be treated as private cash boxes for the political class.

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