Corrupt Practices Of Cghs Revealed
Posted 06-10-2008 at 02:11 PM by bahl_ajay
This is the recent information I managed thru the RTI Act on the status of payments by the Pay & Accts. Office CGHS, New Delhi, This may help a number of Senior citizens and Central Govt. pensioners in knowing why their payments for reimbursement of medical expenses are getting delayed for no fault of theirs and why do they have to run from pillar to post in the office of CGHS for getting their payments cleared.
1. Total budget utilized during the FY 2007-08 under the Pensioners Non Plan Medical Treatment Head - Rs.262.27 Crores.
2. Monthly Break up of payment :
a. April 07 11,33,880/-
b. May 07 43,32,20,115/-
c. Jun 07 37,75,66,660/-
d. Jul 07 17,70,00,820/-
e. Aug 07 48,95,90,048/-
f. Sep 07 18,37,40,492/-
g. Oct 07 9,57,95,921/-
h. Nov 07 1,31,92,318/-
i. Dec 07 1,62,98,891/-
j. Jan 08 39,68,74,693/-
k. Feb 08 14,73,32,076/-
l. Mar 08 29,10,46,611/-
3. The reply to my question under the RTI Act that whether all these payments were cleared within the mandatory time limit of Five working days and details of payments made above the stipulated payment time during the Financial Year 2007-08 was not provided by the Pay & Accounts, CGHS on the pretext I quote “In terms of para 4 of guidelines for information seekers under RTI Act, 2005 clearly stipulates that - Public Authority under the RTI Act is not supposed to create information; or to interpret information; or to solve the problems raised by the applicants, or to furnish replies to hypothetical questions. Only such information can be had under the Act which already exists with the Public Authority. Information sought is not available in the records as such question is covered under these guidelines”.
4. Total number of bills passed under above categories during FY 2007-08 is 11005. The category wise number of bills passed was said to be not available in the records.
5. The total outstanding amount under this one budget head as on 03 April 08 (the date of RTI Application) that the Pay & Accounts Office has to pay is Rs.49.38 Crores Approx. This includes outstanding payment to Private recognized hospitals amounting to Rs.47 Crores Approx against 800 bills and payments to pensioners on account of medical claims amounting to Rs.2.38 Crores against 1598 bills. The amount of pensioners claim does not include the bill details of CGHS North Zone which accounts for almost 40% of pensioners in Delhi as the details were not provided with. The Non payment to private vendors within 07 days submission of bills has resulted in a loss of 2% of the bill amount or Rs.1 Crore Approx. which the State would otherwise have saved as discount under clause 17 of MoU between the Dir Hospital(CGHS) and the Private Hospitals. ( F.No. S.11011/69/04-D.II / MOA, Government of India, Ministry of Health & F.W. CGHS Division. Dt. 01.11.2006).
Even the above quoted bills were cleared after the much running about by the old pensioners and representatives of Private Vendors to the office of Pay and Accounts Officer, CGHS, New Delhi.
The very fact that the department is not willing to share information about the number of bills delayed for payment or for which the payment was not cleared within the stipulated time limit shows that all the things are not in order.
1. Total budget utilized during the FY 2007-08 under the Pensioners Non Plan Medical Treatment Head - Rs.262.27 Crores.
2. Monthly Break up of payment :
a. April 07 11,33,880/-
b. May 07 43,32,20,115/-
c. Jun 07 37,75,66,660/-
d. Jul 07 17,70,00,820/-
e. Aug 07 48,95,90,048/-
f. Sep 07 18,37,40,492/-
g. Oct 07 9,57,95,921/-
h. Nov 07 1,31,92,318/-
i. Dec 07 1,62,98,891/-
j. Jan 08 39,68,74,693/-
k. Feb 08 14,73,32,076/-
l. Mar 08 29,10,46,611/-
3. The reply to my question under the RTI Act that whether all these payments were cleared within the mandatory time limit of Five working days and details of payments made above the stipulated payment time during the Financial Year 2007-08 was not provided by the Pay & Accounts, CGHS on the pretext I quote “In terms of para 4 of guidelines for information seekers under RTI Act, 2005 clearly stipulates that - Public Authority under the RTI Act is not supposed to create information; or to interpret information; or to solve the problems raised by the applicants, or to furnish replies to hypothetical questions. Only such information can be had under the Act which already exists with the Public Authority. Information sought is not available in the records as such question is covered under these guidelines”.
4. Total number of bills passed under above categories during FY 2007-08 is 11005. The category wise number of bills passed was said to be not available in the records.
5. The total outstanding amount under this one budget head as on 03 April 08 (the date of RTI Application) that the Pay & Accounts Office has to pay is Rs.49.38 Crores Approx. This includes outstanding payment to Private recognized hospitals amounting to Rs.47 Crores Approx against 800 bills and payments to pensioners on account of medical claims amounting to Rs.2.38 Crores against 1598 bills. The amount of pensioners claim does not include the bill details of CGHS North Zone which accounts for almost 40% of pensioners in Delhi as the details were not provided with. The Non payment to private vendors within 07 days submission of bills has resulted in a loss of 2% of the bill amount or Rs.1 Crore Approx. which the State would otherwise have saved as discount under clause 17 of MoU between the Dir Hospital(CGHS) and the Private Hospitals. ( F.No. S.11011/69/04-D.II / MOA, Government of India, Ministry of Health & F.W. CGHS Division. Dt. 01.11.2006).
Even the above quoted bills were cleared after the much running about by the old pensioners and representatives of Private Vendors to the office of Pay and Accounts Officer, CGHS, New Delhi.
The very fact that the department is not willing to share information about the number of bills delayed for payment or for which the payment was not cleared within the stipulated time limit shows that all the things are not in order.
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now what is the question. do RTI Act 2005 has enough teeth to instill fear of RTI and ensure that office atleast shall not indulge in corrupt practices . My answer is a solid NO. The initial hysteria created about application RTI is on the wane. Let's start consolidating the gain. Unless and until the culprits who are exposed are punished by the Judiciary there is not much hope for the RTI Act. It has hardly any teeth to tear of steel coated corrupt to the core jackets .Posted 08-22-2008 at 12:21 AM by rishraM
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