Shikshan Sanshodhan : Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Abstract: This article discussed how legal aid grants to States in India came to be a constitutional and fiscal route to justice. Free legal aid that has been established by the Articles 39A of the Directive Principles of State Policy and in several ways supported by the judicial pronouncements under Articles 14 and 21 has become a constitutional provision. In an asymmetric federal system in India, where the Centre is financially more powerful than the States, which have the duty of delivering justice, grants become a crucial tool of cooperative federalism. The article examines legal aid grants as redistributive measures to correct vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalances, its role in decentralization and cooperative federalism, the empowerment of States to respond to the local realities to deliver justice, and the inadequacy of the grant system that are causing weaknesses, loss of autonomy, uniformity, and short term which requires reform. It puts forward new ideas like performance-based funding, transparency, and a Governance Accountability that grants should not be a simple fiscal transfer, but a governance tool that bolsters constitutional justice and equitable access throughout India.