> So it's deliberately run without the ability for human oversight to prevent corruption under the guise of regulation.

Surely they could find a way to exclude human factor if they really wanted it.

> Either way the scientists in charge probably consider it a good thing if there are some extra unsanctioned cullers freeing up resources at a rate slightly higher than what they managed to get the public to agree to.

That's more plausible.
Not that people wouldn't see through it. But people wouldn't really agree to live under such a system in the first place, so whatever.
After all, fiction allows to explore any imaginable scenario, no matter how absurd, and it wouldn't be fun otherwise.