Despite being explicitly barred from availing benefits under the Mukh Mantri Mawan-Dheeyan Satkar Yojana, 1,597 regular and permanent women employees of Punjab government departments, boards, corporations and public sector organisations have been found to have applied for the financial assistance scheme.
The state government has identified these employees and directed their respective departments to seek written explanations, verify their service records and recover the financial assistance received by those found ineligible.
Appropriate administrative or disciplinary proceedings against employees found to have furnished incorrect information or concealed facts to secure the benefits has also been ordered.
In a communication issued on October 30, the Directorate of Social Security and Women and Child Development directed departmental heads to examine the cases on priority. The list of employees attached to the communication has triggered a department-wide verification exercise, with officials asked to check each applicant’s employment status, service record and retirement details.
HR software detected aberration
Sukhdeep Singh Jhajj, deputy director, Directorate of Social Security and Women and Child Development, said the anomaly came to fore through the Integrated Human Resource Management System (HRMS), containing complete employee records. “The employees will now be served notices by their respective departments and the money received by those found ineligible will be recovered,” he added.
The Mukh Mantri Mawan-Dheeyan Satkar Yojana was announced on International Women’s Day on March 8 during the Punjab Budget presentation and formally launched on July 1 by chief minister Bhagwant Mann in Dhuri, Sangrur district.
{{/usCountry}}The Mukh Mantri Mawan-Dheeyan Satkar Yojana was announced on International Women’s Day on March 8 during the Punjab Budget presentation and formally launched on July 1 by chief minister Bhagwant Mann in Dhuri, Sangrur district.
{{/usCountry}}The scheme provides for a monthly assistance of ₹1,000 to general category women and ₹1,500 to Scheduled Caste women aged 18 and above who are registered voters in Punjab. The amount is transferred directly into Aadhaar-linked bank accounts through Direct Benefit Transfer.
Clearly termed ineligible under scheme
Jhajj said the government had clearly specified the exclusion criteria when launching the scheme.
Regular and retired government employees were not entitled to the benefit. Women applying for the financial assistance had also been required to submit an undertaking declaring that they were neither serving nor retired government employees or income-tax payers.
The eligibility conditions also explicitly exclude regular or retired employees of the central government, and other state/UT governments. Those eligible for or receiving pensions from government-established public sector undertakings, statutory boards, corporations, commissions, committees, directorates, cooperative institutions and tribunals are also barred. Additionally, elected MLAs or MPs; and spouses of serving ministers, MPs or MLAs are excluded.
Income-tax payers who paid even Re 1 as income tax during the preceding financial year are likewise ineligible.
The directorate has directed the departments to submit detailed action-taken reports, specifying the number of cases verified, explanations received, amounts disbursed to ineligible applicants, pending recoveries and action taken against the employees concerned.