AG points out irregularities in implementation of Gruha Lakshmi scheme

The report said the women and child development department did not provide details of the beneficiaries dropped from the scheme. | Photo credit: FILE PHOTO

The Accountant General (AG), Karnataka, has highlighted several irregularities in the implementation of the state government’s flagship Gruha Lakshmi programme, including payments to beneficiaries sharing the same bank account, repeated changes in bank account details and payments made without recording the bank account details.

The observations were part of an audit of data provided by the Directorate of Women and Child Development and analyzed by the AG’s Data Analysis Unit.

One of the key findings concerns the 19,020 beneficiaries who were found to share bank account numbers. According to the audit, 3.03 lakh successful payments of ₹60.69 crore were made to these beneficiaries in various months. Of these, 8,995 payments worth about ₹1.8 million were made to beneficiaries sharing the same account during the same payment month. The audit found that such duplicate cases pose a risk of potential irregularities.

Changes in accounts

The AG also found that more than 10 million beneficiary records reflected multiple changes in bank account details. A total of 10,06,308 records showed that beneficiaries had changed their bank accounts more than once, leading the audit to seek further clarification from the department.

Another note related to payments made despite the absence of bank account details. The audit found that 23,262 payments worth around ₹ 46.52 crore were processed without bank account numbers being recorded in the system. She asked the ministry to explain how such transactions were carried out.

Gaps in data sharing

The audit further pointed to gaps in data sharing by the e-Governance Center (EDCS) and said key records, including beneficiary database, details of ineligible beneficiaries and online complaints received under the scheme, were not provided to the AG’s data analysis cell despite repeated requests.

The report also said that the department failed to provide details of beneficiaries dropped from the scheme, including beneficiary IDs, dates of deletion and reasons for deletion, despite repeated reminders by the audit team.

No action before

On a separate note, the advisory group’s report said action had not been initiated on matters previously flagged during the system audit. The AG’s office formally handed over the list of cases requiring field-level verification to the Women and Child Development Department in a meeting chaired by the department’s secretary on January 1, 2026.

According to the audit, the department agreed to verify the cases and report on the implementation by January 31, 2026. However, no action was initiated and the identified cases were not even forwarded to the district authorities for verification.

Published – 19 Jun 2026 23:22 IST