Pension fraud in local bodies; employees remain under radar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pension fraud has been uncovered in the local government department in Thiruvananthapuram. While some officials receiving social security pensions have been caught, many remain undetected. Approximately a thousand employees in the local government department continue to receive these illegal pensions. They assume they are safe because their salaries are directly sourced from their department's own funds.

The government detected this fraud linking Spark, the salary distribution system for government employees, with the service software responsible for social security pensions. However, employees of municipalities, corporations, and panchayats, who are paid from their own funds, are not connected to Spark. In other departments, salaries are disbursed through the treasury, while local bodies issue cheques from their own funds. Local bodies also oversee social security pension distribution, making employees in these departments aware of and able to exploit its loopholes.

Although a list of government employees receiving pensions illegally has been published, local government department employees are notably absent from it. These employees continue to claim pensions by regularly mustering and submitting life certificates. Their ranks include clerical staff and others below this level. With over ten thousand employees in local government institutions, it is estimated that around a thousand are receiving pensions unlawfully.

The fraudulent pensions mostly involve categories like pensions for the differently abled and widows. Some individuals began receiving welfare pensions before obtaining jobs but failed to declare their ineligibility once employed. According to regulations, employees must officially opt out of welfare pensions upon getting a job. Alternatively, heads of local government institutions are expected to identify such cases and remove them from the pension lists, but this often does not happen.

Earlier, it was revealed that 1,458 government employees across various departments were receiving social security pensions. Authorities initiated recovery of the amounts, adding an 18 percent interest rate. Among them, the health department had the highest number of offenders, totalling 373. In the revenue department, 38 individuals were suspended, of which 16 repaid the amounts along with interest. Their suspensions were subsequently lifted.