Madras high court smells muster roll fraud in rural job scheme; orders probe

CHENNAI: Shocked over the fact that a dead woman had been shown as working under the rural employment guarantee scheme - MGNREGA - her wages were misappropriated by a Block Development Officer (BDO) using her ATM card, the Madras high court has ordered a vigilance probe into the issue.
Justice R M T Teekaa Raman has directed the agency to the investigate the entire gamut of activities of the BDO during the past three years and file a report in three months.
The court passed the interim order on a plea moved by the deceased woman's son bringing the scam to the light.
S Selvakumar of Tiruvannamalai moved the court alleging that in the muster roll of the scheme for his village it had been mentioned that his deceased mother was working and that her signature was forged by another woman.
As per the court's direction, the agency conducted a discreet inquiry and submitted that Amaravathi, the mother of the petitioner, died on March 26, 2020. However, in MGNREGA scheme muster roll there was an entry of attendance in the name of Amaravathi from May 27, 2021 to June 2, 2021.
Recording the submissions, the court said: "As per the muster roll maintained in the MGNREGA scheme, the dead person seems to have been shown as working and also an amount has been paid to her credit and ATM card of the deceased person was used to withdraw the amount."
Therefore, since it is a matter for investigation with regard to loss caused to the public exchequer in the MGNREGA scheme, this court is satisfied that prima facie there are materials to come to the conclusion a preliminary inquiry has to be conducted by the DVAC, the judge said. The court directed the DSP (V and AC) Tiruvannamali to conduct the probe and file a report to the court in three months.