Welfare pension fraud: LoP Satheesan sends letter to Kerala CM, FM

The opposition Congress on Wednesday urged the Kerala government to release the names of government employees found to have received social security pensions meant for the poor in the state. The opposition party warned that unless the names were disclosed, even honest officers would fall under suspicion.

Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, V D Satheesan, sent a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Finance Minister K N Balagopal, citing the demand.

In the letter, Satheesan expressed "surprise" that the government had not taken action on the matter, despite findings by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) two years ago.



Although, the government had informed the CAG that remedial measures would be taken, no action had been taken, he alleged.

Satheesan described as "very serious" the discovery that 1,458 government officials, including gazetted officers and wealthy individuals who own luxury cars, were receiving social security pensions.

He noted that a scrutiny of the state-run payroll and social security pension software could have detected the fraud, but the government had wasted two "precious years" without taking action.

"The government should release the names of those receiving social security pensions while in service. Otherwise, even honest officers will be under suspicion," Satheesan said.


The LoP also urged that reports of such irregularities not impact the distribution of social security pensions in the state.

Satheesan's letter comes amidst public outrage over reports that nearly 1,500 government employees, including gazetted officers and college professors, had fraudulently claimed social security pensions.

An inspection by the Information Kerala Mission, which aims to computerise and network local self-government institutions in the state, found that 1,458 government employees were receiving social security pensions.

This led Finance Minister Balagopal to order stringent disciplinary action against the erring officials last week.