Luxury Cars and Social Security: Kerala's Pension Scandal Unfolds

An audit by Kerala's Finance Department reveals that affluent individuals, including BMW owners and air-conditioned homeowners, have been wrongly listed as social security pension recipients. This has led to statewide outrage and an expansion of audits to remove ineligibles. The Finance Minister has ordered a vigilance investigation into the matter.

The discovery that luxury car owners and residents of premium homes are receiving social security pensions intended for the poor in Kerala has stirred statewide controversy. An audit by the Finance Department in Kottakkal Municipality exposed several such irregularities.

Finance Minister K N Balagopal has called for an expanded audit to cleanse the state-wide beneficiary list of ineligible names and ordered a vigilance inquiry into the officials who facilitated this. The findings are particularly damning as they come amid reports of around 1,500 government employees fraudulently claiming pensions.

The integrity of welfare distribution is under heavy scrutiny in Kerala as government audits and investigations tighten. The criteria for pension eligibility are clear: annual family income under Rs 1 lakh, no luxury assets, and no multiple pensions. Stringent measures are now underway to ensure compliance.

(With inputs from agencies.)