LIC using revenue stamps arbitrarily in receipts: CIC

NEW DELHI: Several branches of the country's largest insurance company Life Insurance Corporation of India are allegedly causing huge loss to exchequer by issuing receipts without affixing revenue stamps.

The matter came to light during a hearing before the Central Information Commission which directed the LIC to make public details of all the revenue stamps purchased by the Corporation between 2006-10.

The case relates to an RTI applicant who sought to know from the LIC details of revenue stamps purchased by it during the last five years along with other queries but the request was denied saying compiling of information would divert the resources disproportionately.

When the matter came before the transparency panel, applicant Madan Mohan Tiwari produced documents received by him from LIC Divisional office, Patna which showed that over a lakh receipts, requiring revenue stamps, were issued by Buxar Branch without affixing them, a fact not refuted by officials representing the LIC during hearing.

Tiwari with the help of information gathered from just one division of the LIC managed to prove before the Commission that number of offices are using "arbitrary practice" of pasting revenue stamps on receipts thus causing immense loss to exchequer.

"A perusal of this document clearly brings out that the total number of revenue stamps purchased by the Buxar branch office for the above­mentioned period (2006-10) was 35,980, while the total number of receipts which were over Rs 5000 on which revenue stamp was required to be pasted was 1,58,389 which clearly brings out that revenue stamps were not pasted on as many as 1,22,409 receipts thereby resulting in loss to the exchequer," Information Commissioner Deepak Sandhu noted.

She said the revelations are serious enough to merit action under the public interest override clause of the RTI Act and dismissed the arguments of the LIC that compiling of information would disproportionately divert its resources.

Giving LIC 16 weeks to compile the information, Sandhu said, "Undoubtedly, the practice being followed by some of the offices of the LIC to arbitrarily decide as to which receipt should be affixed with revenue stamp is in complete violation of the law in this regard."

This practice has caused huge financial loss to the exchequer and must be highlighted so that the top bosses of the Corporation can take cognisance of the matter and take corrective action, she said.