Fresh data obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed a significant lapse in the implementation of Maharashtra's flagship Ladki Bahin Yojana. The information shows that over 12,900 government employees, who were explicitly excluded from the scheme, have wrongfully received the monthly financial assistance.
Scale of Irregularities Exposed by RTI
The RTI reply, received on December 16, 2025, by The Indian Express, indicates that the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department has admitted 12,915 salaried government staff availed the Rs 1,500 monthly benefit. This marks a sharp increase from earlier figures. Previously, WCD Minister Aditi Tatkare had stated that nearly 2,400 government employees had wrongly taken the benefits, meaning the number has jumped more than five-fold.
With this latest admission, the total number of ineligible beneficiaries under the scheme has now crossed the one lakh mark. This builds on an earlier RTI report from October 2025, which had identified over 90,000 ineligible beneficiaries, including 12,431 men and 77,980 women, leading to a wrongful disbursal of at least Rs 164.52 crore.
Department Orders Action and Recovery
The WCD Department, in its RTI response, has acknowledged that these benefits taken by government employees were irregular. It stated, "Instructions have been issued to concerned offices to initiate action against such employees for wrongfully availing benefits." The department has formally communicated with relevant departments regarding possible recovery of funds and disciplinary action.
However, the RTI reply did not provide specific details on recovery proceedings related to the earlier cases of ineligible women beneficiaries. It also clarified that while payments to men were stopped after July 2025, government employees continued to receive funds until they were identified in subsequent verification drives.
Ongoing Verification and Systemic Gaps
The scheme, launched in June 2024 ahead of the Assembly elections, provides Rs 1,500 per month to women aged 21–65 from families with an annual income below Rs 2.5 lakh. The discovery of massive inclusion errors has pointed to deep verification failures in its rollout.
On August 25, Minister Aditi Tatkare had stated on social media platform X that preliminary data suggested nearly 26 lakh beneficiaries might be ineligible. Following this, district-level physical verification was initiated, and disbursals to 26.34 lakh suspect accounts were suspended. Officials had warned these irregularities were just "the tip of the iceberg."
To curb further misuse, the state has launched a statewide e-KYC verification drive, making it mandatory for all eligible women with a deadline of December 31, 2025. Currently, nearly 2.4 crore women receive benefits under the scheme, costing the state exchequer approximately Rs 3,700 crore monthly. The government has allocated a budget of Rs 36,000 crore for the initiative.
Despite the large-scale discrepancies, the WCD Department has said that compiled data on ineligible beneficiaries and recoveries, broken down by reason, department, or district, is not currently available.
