SC upholds validity of MPLAD scheme

Rs 2 crore annually for development of their constituencies by Parliament.
A constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said: “The Scheme does not result in an unfair advantage to the sitting Members of Parliament and does not amount to a corrupt practice.’’

“Accordingly, we hold that the impugned MPLAD Scheme is valid and intra vires of the Constitution and all the writ petitions as well as the transferred cases are liable to be dismissed as devoid of any merit, consequently, the same are dismissed,” said the judgement.

Justice Sathasivam said: “In the present Scheme, an accountability regime has been provided. Efforts must be made to make the regime more robust.”