Social security pension scam: Fraudulent disbursement made; deeper probe required: CBI to HC

The CBI reply has come in response to the HC order passed in 2023 when the court had roped in the central investigation agency for a preliminary probe

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has told Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) that fraudulent disbursements were found in sample cases examined by the agency into allegations of pension granted to dead persons in Haryana. For a deeper probe, either the Vigilance Bureau (VB) or any similar agency should be tasked with the inquiry and the same should be conducted district-wide, the CBI has stated.

The CBI report says no corrective actions were taken by the district social welfare officers or the state to address the widespread scam of distribution of pensions to the dead. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The CBI reply has come in response to the HC order passed in 2023 when the court had roped in the central investigation agency for a preliminary probe. The petition has been pending since 2017, seeking a CBI probe into allegations that a large-scale scam in Haryana took place in which, social welfare pensions were disbursed in the name of dead persons by state officials in connivance with local bodies’ elected representatives, across the state. Initially, the CAG report of 2013 flagged discrepancies in the disbursal of social security pensions.

The CBI report says no corrective actions were taken by the district social welfare officers or the state to address the widespread scam of distribution of pensions to the dead. “The inquiry revealed fraudulent disbursement of pension to beneficiaries in municipal committees selected as samples. Thus, a detailed verification process is needed to determine the extent of pension payments made after death, along with recovery efforts. District-wise cases be registered by state vigilance/ economic offence branches of the state for a thorough investigation into the scam if any criminality is found under such detailed verification,” the CBI has said.

The CBI has said as per the state’s report of August 2012 during re-verification conducted by various scrutiny committees in 2012, a total of 17,094 persons were found to be absent and 50,312 persons were found to have expired. “The inquiry has also revealed that no efforts have been taken either by the district social welfare officers (DSWOs) or the state to identify the wrongdoing and subsequent corrective measures in respect of the dead/absentee beneficiaries,” the CBI said, adding that since the agency is constrained by limited resources and nature of the matter involved has no inter-state ramifications, all such matters be handed over to state’s agency for the probe.