[Civil Appeal No 11004 of 2016 arising out of SLP (C) No. 33119 of 2013]. The appellant has failed in a challenge to the legality of the Vidhayak Nidhi Scheme in the State of Uttar Pradesh which provides for annual budgetary grants to Members of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council for facilitating development work in their constituencies. The Allahabad High Court by a judgment and order dated 13 May 2013 dismissed the writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. This has given rise to the institution of these proceedings. In 1993, the Prime Minister of India announced a scheme, popularly known by the acronym MPLADS (an abbreviation for Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme). The Scheme provides for annual budgetary grants by the Union Government to enable Members of Parliament to recommend work of a developmental nature with an emphasis on creating durable community assets based on local necessities in their constituencies. The constitutional validity of the Scheme was adjudicated upon and upheld in a judgment of a Constitution Bench of this Court rendered on 6 May 2010 in Bhim Singh v. Union of India[1].
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