Despite being dogged by controversies relating to the alleged extravagant use of public money by leaders in power through reimbursement of medical expenses, Kerala’s CPI(M)-led lDF Government has so far failed to implement a commission’s recommendations for reducing the burden of MlAs’ medical expenses on the Exchequer.
The issue of the Government’s reluctance to implement the recommendations of the Justice JM James Commission for reducing the burden of reimbursement of MlAs’ medical expenses on the Treasury has come to the fore in the context of reports on the huge amounts of public money claimed by Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and others towards medical expenses.
The commission, which had recommended imposition of limits for reimbursement of expenses of medical treatment expenses and introducing a system of medical insurance for the MlAs, had submitted its report to the Government five months ago. The official explanation given for the delay is that the Government is trying to find a consensus on the matter.
The commission’s recommendations have become all the more relevant following the eruption of controversies over the purchase of a pair of eyeglasses for Rs 49,900 by the Assembly Speaker using public money and the act of Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac of getting Rs 1,20,000 reimbursed from the Government for his 15-day Ayurvedic therapy.
These controversies had followed another scandal involving Health Minister KK Shailaja who had purchased a pair of spectacles for Rs 28,000 and got the amount reimbursed from the Exchequer. The scandals have hit the CPI(M) hard as Isaac and Shailaja are its central committee members and Sreeramakrishnan is its State committee member.
“According to the commission, reimbursement for purchase of spectacles by an MlA should not be more than Rs 10,000. If such a limit was there, Sreeramakrishnan and Shailaja would not have got trapped in such a controversy. The sooner the Government implements the proposals, the better,” said a former official of the General Administration Department.
Apart from imposing the Rs 10,000-limit on eyeglasses purchase, the panel had proposed that reimbursement for purchase of glasses can be granted to an MlA only once in five years. However, an MlA can get reimbursement for changing the glasses if the there is further sight impairment but this can be allowed only once in five years, according to the commission.
The Justice James Commission had recommended that implementation of medical insurance coverage was preferable to the system of making reimbursement of expenses of treatment to legislators. It had prepared its report after discussions with certain medical insurance companies. The commission was appointed by the lDF Government itself.
The panel had recommended imposition of a Rs-60,000 limit for reimbursement of medical expenses for outpatient treatment. It said insurance coverage should be made applicable in the case of treatment at hospital. However, expenses on food, registration and admission should not be covered by the insurance scheme, it had said.
The commission had also recommended that the benefits of medical reimbursement should not be extended to MlAs’ sons who were major and had own income. Congress MlA K Muraleedharan had allegedly received from the Government as reimbursement a hefty amount as expenses for the treatment of his major son who was earning lakhs of rupees a year.
