What is MPLADS funds
Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)
It is a Central Sector Scheme which was announced in December 1993.
Objective: To enable MPs to recommend works of developmental nature with emphasis on the creation of durable community assets in the areas of drinking water, primary education, public health, sanitation and roads, etc. primarily in their Constituencies.
Implementation:
The process under MPLADS starts with the Members of Parliament recommending works to the Nodal District Authority.
The Nodal District concerned is responsible for implementing the eligible works recommended by the Members of Parliament and maintaining the details of individual works executed and amount spent under the Scheme
Each year, MPs receive Rs. 5 crore in two instalments of Rs. 2.5 crore each. Funds under MPLADS are non-lapsable.
Lok Sabha MPs have to recommend the district authorities projects in their Lok Sabha constituencies, while Rajya Sabha MPs have to spend it in the state that has elected them to the House.
Nominated Members of both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha can recommend works anywhere in the country
HC about jurisdiction of CIC on MPLADS funds
The Delhi High Court has held that the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) has “no jurisdiction” to comment on the utilisation of MPLADS funds by MPs as the scope of the Right To Information (RTI) Act is limited to providing access to information under the control of public authorities
In its October 2018 order, the CIC had observed that some MPs were “deliberately accumulating” their MPLADS funds for the last year of their term to gain an advantage during elections.
It had suggested to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation that this “abuse” of the funds be prevented and guidelines be implemented for distributing the money equally for each year of the five-year term.
The court expunged these observations by the CIC.
The court’s order came after the Centre’s Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation challenged the CIC order
Section 18 of the RTI Act
The court noted that as per Section 18 of the RTI Act, the CIC can only deal with issues relating to the information being sought or any other issue related to the dissemination of information.
Section 18 of the RTI Act : Powers and functions of Commission
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