Don’t disburse flood relief in cash, suggests Madras High Court

Madras High Court suggests disbursing flood relief, Pongal gifts, etc. only through bank transfers to curb fraud & misappropriation.

Observing that the distribution of flood relief for families affected by Cyclone Michaung, and other such government benefits in cash would only pave the way for misappropriation by cooperative societies, the Madras High Court has suggested disbursement of such relief amounts only through bank transfers.

Justice Krishnan Ramasamy wrote: “Even in the ration shop in my village, I had personally experienced, where my relatives had purchased only the eligible sugar but they had received an intimation through message as if they had purchased wheat, oil, etc.”

Stating that such irregularities take place everywhere, he said, “Even if the Government intends to curb these types of fraud, still the persons, who are sitting and distributing the goods, are always finding the innovative ways to cheat the poor public.”

Therefore, keeping all these aspects in mind, he suggested that the government should start distributing flood relief, Pongal gifts and so on only through bank transfers and ensure that the money gets handed over only on the personal appearance of the beneficiaries

“At any cost, the officials of the cooperative societies/ration shops should not be allowed to withdraw the said reliefs by bringing the cheques from its members. If it is allowed, there are chances for malpractices and misappropriation here again,” he cautioned.

Suggesting that the same procedure could be followed even for disbursal of loans through cooperative societies, he said, all transactions must be made cashless and a chartered accountant could also be appointed to audit the accounts.

These suggestions were made while disposing of a batch of writ petitions filed by a few cooperative societies in Erode district against the insistence of the Income Tax department to deduct tax at source for certain cash transactions.