ARC recommends OTS for recovery of dues in minorities corporation

In the light of poor recovery of loans extended between 2013 and 2018 by the Minorities Development Corporation, the Second Karnataka Administrative Reforms Commission has recommended announcing ‘One-Time Settlement’ to recover dues of over ₹700 crore.

The commission noted that the direct loans to beneficiaries were provided between 2013-14 and 2018-19, of which the principal amount of ₹714.28 crore and interest of ₹14.31 crore needed to be recovered. Only about ₹86 crore has been recovered so far, it said, adding that recovery has been made difficult due to migration, marriage, change of employment and others. An OTS can be offered with a deadline and with discount, it has recommended.

Such a recommendation has been made by the second KARC headed by veteran Congress leader R.V. Deshpande in its final report to the government submitted on Tuesday.

Aid to goshalas

To ensure the financial viability of Pinjrapoles and goshalas in the State, the commission has recommended increasing the financial assistance to about 259 private goshalas. As per the NDRF norms, ₹70 has been fixed as per day expense for the cattle of which 25% or ₹17.50 is being provided depending on funds. In the 2025-2026 budget, an allocation of ₹4 crore has been made for the purpose.

However, the commission noted that about 259 goshalas across the State are managing about 35,000 cattle and required about ₹89.42 crore. “The current allocation of ₹4 crore is sufficient to manage the cattle for 65 days. The financial support to per cattle should be raised from ₹17.50 to ₹40 that provide financial stability to the goshalas. This will bring an additional financial burden of ₹51.10 crore,” it said.

Merge Kannada authorities

Recommending an apex body to promote Kannada, the commission has recommended merging of the Kannada Development Authority, Kuvempu Bhasha Bharathi Authority and Kannada Pusthaka Authority to reduce administrative expenses and repetition of work. It has also recommended having a common project for State cultural events, festivals and honours to organise jayanthis, State and district level utsavas, Mysuru Dasara and Rajyotsava awards, that will work with a common annual calendar. It has also urged the government to review the monthly pension provided to artists and weed out ineligible beneficiaries.

High vacancies

The State departments are grappling with vacancies of posts as about 36% (about 2.94 lakh) of the total sanctioned posts of 8.16 lakh remain vacant. The School Education Department has the highest vacancy among all departments with about 79,000 posts of the total about 2.84 lakh posts remaining vacant, even as it has outsourced work (mostly teaching) to about 48,000 persons. This is followed by Health and Medical Education Department, where half of the sanctioned 75,411 posts remain vacant. The Home Department has about 28,000 posts of the total 1.3 lakh sanctioned posts.

The Urban Development Department (16,937 posts), Higher Education (13,599 posts), Animal Husbandry (11,020 posts), Revenue (10,867 posts), Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (10,775 posts), Social Welfare (9,646 posts) and Agriculture (6,876 posts) departments are among those with high vacancies. Interestingly, all the 31 sanctioned posts of mining engineers in Mines department are vacant. The commission has recommended for an independent research by institutions such as Indian Institute of Management or Institute for Social and Economic Change on the impact of outsourcing.

Not implemented

Meanwhile, about 36 % of the 727 recommendations made by the first Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Haranahalli Ramaswamy have not been implemented yet. As many as 265 recommendations are yet to be implemented. The commission submitted its report in December 2001. Of the recommendations to be implemented, 49 have not been agreed to by the departments.