New Delhi, June 20: A large number of discrepancies have been detected in the data on freedom fighters’ pensions, prompting the Home Ministry to instruct banks to update records and furnish details of all pension accounts.
A preliminary scrutiny of about 45,000 beneficiaries of freedom fighters’ pensions through banks has revealed cases in which more than one person has been receiving pension from a single account — and others in which a single individual has been drawing pension from two Pension Payment Order (PPO) accounts.
A freedom fighter’s pension is a little over Rs 14,000 per month. The amount of dependent pension varies.
Several other discrepancies that have come to light include full-dependent pension being disbursed to two wives of a deceased pensioner, and beneficiaries drawing twice the sanctioned amount of pension.
The Freedom Fighters and Rehabilitation Division of the Home Ministry, which approves claims for freedom fighters’ pensions, has now written to the heads of all public sector banks which have such accounts to take action and correct the discrepancies.
“Any excess/wrong payments made by the Banks must be deposited into the government’s account immediately. Penal on excess/wrong payments shall also be payable by the banks,” the letter from the Home Ministry said.
The discrepancies were discovered in an internal audit of the ministry, which is preparing a computerised database of the beneficiaries of the freedom fighters’ pension. The database is being prepared on the basis of information provided by banks.
Besides those drawing through banks, about 6,300 people receive the pension through the government treasury. Records of these cases are yet to be scrutinised.
“It is not clear as to how more than one person is drawing SSS (Swatantrata Sainik Samman) pension from one PPO, or the same person is drawing SSS pension from two PPOs, or one person is being disbursed twice the amount of sanctioned central SSS pension. This needs to be looked into immediately,” the Home Ministry letter said.
R R Jha, Joint Secretary in the Home Ministry in charge of the Freedom Fighters and Rehabilitation Division, told The Indian Express that “duplication or errors” might have crept into the banks’ records.
“We have carried out only a preliminary scrutiny and flagged every doubtful case… Many of these banks have not been maintaining proper centralised records. Therefore, it is possible that there is duplication or errors. We have asked all banks to give us detailed information. Once that is made available, a clearer picture will emerge,” Jha said.
He said the Home Ministry is not yet in a position to estimate exactly how many erroneous payments were being made. “We will get to know in about a month’s time when we get the response from banks and scrutinise the data.”
THE PENSION SCHEME
INTRODUCED in 1972, 25th anniversary of Independence
LIBERALISED, renamed Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme from Aug 1, 1980
ELIGIBILITY: Participants in 40 different movements, incidents during Independence struggle
BENEFICIARIES: Until June 2009, a total 1,70,634 people, including widows/dependents
WHAT’S WRONG
* More than 1 person drawing pension from an account
* One person drawing pension from two accounts
* Drawing twice the sanctioned pension
* Dependent pension being drawn by two wives of deceased pensioner
* Pension being drawn even after death
* Next of kin also drawing dependent pension
* Details like photograph, identification mark, date of birth missing
* Pension sanctioned by states being disbursed from central revenues
–Agencies–