Govt To Handover Reliance Medical Insurance Scam To Vigilance

Jammu: The State Government has decided to handover the case of frauds committed in Jammu and Kashmir Government Employees Group Medical Insurance Policy with Anil Ambani’s Reliance General Insurance to Vigilance Organization as revelations surfaced that the Finance Department had made an advance payment of Rs 60 crore to the Insurance company without approval of the Governor or the Chief Secretary.

Official sources told the Excelsior that the Government has decided to handover the case to the State Vigilance Organization for in-depth probe into allotment of contract to the Reliance General Insurance, floating of tenders by a private firm and not by the Government and other issues involved in the case.

“Entire gamut of the scam would be investigated by the Vigilance Organization,” sources said, adding that an order for termination of Group Medical Insurance Policy with Reliance General and handing over of case to the Vigilance Organization was likely to be issued soon even as the Civil Secretariat, the seat of the Government, closed today in Srinagar, the summer capital of the State and will re-open in Jammu, the winter capital, on November 5.

They said the file for cancellation of the contract and handing over case to the Vigilance Organization has been sent to the Raj Bhawan.
Sources said some revelations have come to the fore including advance payment of about Rs 60 crore to the company.

Significantly, they said, the payment had been made to the Company without approval of the Chief Secretary or the Governor.

The Finance Department sources, however, justified the payment on the ground that 25 per cent payment out of total Rs 280 cr worth contract had to be made in advance.

They said the role of a private company, which was authorized to float tenders, has also come under scrutiny.

The company was chosen in January 2018, when the PDP-BJP Government was in power.

The Reliance firm was picked last month – by then the coalition had collapsed and Central rule had been declared – through the bidding process.

State Government employees were up in arms against the contract, alleging it was framed out fraudulently.

The issue snowballed after employees resented the Policy being made mandatory and also being extended to two Shrine Boards.

Around 3.5 lakh regular Government employees are compulsorily covered under the scheme.

For pensioners, it is optional.

The scheme is expected to cover many people, including the family members of the employees, and hundreds of crores of rupees are expected to be paid as premium.

The scheme covers each employee plus five members of his or her family for coverage of Rs 6 lakh with a premium of Rs 8,777 per annum. For a pensioner, the premium was fixed at Rs 22,229.

Only a day before, Governor Satya Pal Malik had stated that the Government hadn’t even called the tenders for the policy and a front company was floated by the officers to call the tenders, which were not uploaded on the Government website.

“The amount was changed to suit the company. The tender was opened on holiday. I went to root of the case to find out which officers were involved…how much amount was involved. More employees were added to the policy to raise the amount,” the Governor had said in a serious indictment of the Finance Department, which was responsible for implementation of the Policy.

Malik said he called the officers involved and when the fraud was established, “I spoke to the Chief Secretary and directed for immediately scrapping the contract with the Insurance company”.

Asked whether there was pressure on him when he cancelled the deal as a bid company was involved in it, the Governor had said he doesn’t succumb to pressures. (DE)