‘Not the only state’: Delhi defends MLA nod in Lakshmi Yojana scheme

The scheme, notified on August 6, provides for financial assistance of ₹2,500 per month to eligible poor women beneficiaries.

The Delhi government has told the Delhi high court that the recently launched Delhi Lakshmi Yojana is not the only scheme in the country that requires beneficiaries to obtain an endorsement from their local MP or MLA, as similar welfare schemes in other states also require recommendations or endorsements from elected representatives.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta in a group photo with beneficiaries at the official letter distribution ceremony under Delhi Lakshmi Yojana. (ANI)

The scheme, notified on August 6, provides for financial assistance of ₹2,500 per month to eligible poor women beneficiaries. In an affidavit filed on September 15, the government said that such a requirement on the application form is in no manner either “ultra vires, arbitrary, capricious or dehors” the provisions of any act or regulations.

The affidavit was filed in response to a petition by Abhishekh Dutt and Vedpal Sheetal Chaudhary, former councillors, challenging the conditions for availing the benefit of the scheme, including the production of a lawmaker’s endorsement letter. It will be considered by a bench of chief justice DK Upadhyaya and justice Tejas Karia on Thursday,

“The present scheme is not the only scheme of its kind in India. The requirement of an endorsement/recommendation of the MP/MLA on the application form is in no manner either ultra vires, arbitrary, capricious or dehors the provisions of any act or regulation. The requirement of a recommendation from an MP/MLA can never be termed contrary to public interest, since Members of Parliament and of the Legislative Assembly play an important role in advancing public interest,” the affidavit stated.

“Thus, where MPs and MLAs have been vested with such powers for a public purpose, there cannot be any iota of doubt that a condition requiring recommendation by an MP/MLA cannot be viewed as ultra vires, arbitrary, or unconstitutional,” it added.

The affidavit has been filed in compliance with the high court’s August 24 direction asking the government to file an affidavit in 10 days explaining the rationale and objective behind requiring women seeking financial assistance to obtain an endorsement letter from the MP or MLA of their constituency, describing the same as “arbitrary”.