Bengaluru, 30 Dec

An administrative reforms commission constituted in Karnataka has recommended the closure or merger of low-impact state sector schemes, redeployment of surplus staff to frontline services and abolition of long-vacant posts.

The commission’s final report was released last Wednesday. The Karnataka Administrative Reforms Commission–2 (KARC-2) has also recommended the creation of a permanent reform monitoring mechanism to ensure sustained implementation, according to a press note issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on Tuesday.

The 10th and final report, also calls for rationalisation of nearly 2,874 Heads of Account, reallocation of resources to mission-mode programmes, and alignment of manpower with workload.

"The Government of Karnataka constituted the KARC-2 in January 2021 to review administrative systems,” the note said. Senior legislator R V Deshpande was appointed Chairman of KARC-2 in January 2024.

Based on a detailed examination of 2,874 Heads of Account using financial data for 2023–24 (Accounts), 2024–25 (Revised Estimate) and 2025–26 (Budget Estimates), the Commission found that around 1,000 heads had zero or negligible allocations or were inactive, while about 280 schemes carried allocations of less than Rs 1 crore, with a steep decline from Rs 1,336 crore in 2023–24 to Rs 105 crore in 2025–26.

The Commission has recommended closure, merger or consolidation of such schemes and reallocation to high-impact programmes.