The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Medical certificate scam: CBI seeks report from Income Tax department

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 03, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Medical certificate scam: CBI seeks report from Income Tax department

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, AUG. 2. The Central Bureau of Investigation has sought a report from the Income Tax department on details of compensation claimed by public servants on medical grounds in the State since 1999.

The initiative follows the expose of a multi-crore fake medical certificate scam by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) recently. "The CBI has asked the four Income Tax Commissionerates in Tamil Nadu to furnish information on the nature and quantum of IT concessions claimed by Government employees under Section 80 (DD) and 80 (DDB)," a top IT official told The Hindu today.

Though it was not clear whether the CBI and the DVAC would pursue the investigation jointly, the former was taking stock of the situation since some Central Government agencies were also allegedly involved in the case, the official said.

The scam pertains to issue of fake medical certificates by Government doctors to beneficiaries, mostly public servants, enabling them to claim compensation to the tune of several crores from the Income Tax and Labour departments and insurance organisations between 1999 and 2003.

After conducting an enquiry, the DVAC on December 29, 2003, registered a case against 39 employees, including 34 medical officers, under various Sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The doctors were serving in the Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai, the Government Hospital, Chennai, and district headquarters hospitals in the southern districts during 1999-2003.

The doctors are facing charges of issuing fake certificates facilitating hundreds of beneficiaries to get IT concession, road accident compensations and industrial mishap claims over the years. Accusing the doctors and some treasury staff of "conspiring to commit fraud to get pecuniary advantage in the form of cash," the DVAC said the doctors charged the beneficiaries 5-20 per cent (of the compensation amount) for issuing the fake certificates without examining them clinically. A special medical board constituted to verify a sample of 252 medical certificates found as many as 195 to be fake.

Following a request by the DVAC, the Income Tax department also sent notices to the Central Government offices in Madurai and southern districts to disclose particulars of the employees who claimed compensation/claims using medical certificates. The stage is now set for the DVAC to issue summons to all the accused through the designated court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate and Special Judge, Madurai.

Anticipatory bail pleas

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court posted the hearing on the anticipatory bail petitions filed by six doctors accused in the scam to August 4. After listening to arguments of the defence and the Public Prosecutor, Justice D. Murugesan, posted the petition to Wednesday for orders.

A few more doctors filed petitions seeking anticipatory bail today, DVAC sources said.

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