Alappuzha: The social justice department (SJD) has no system to maintain records of valuables of inmates in government care homes.
Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), which conducted a state-wide raid on Wednesday, found many anomalies in keeping their records.
Kerala Government Old Age Homes Guideline 2016 issued by the SJD makes it mandatory to maintain a proper individual history record filled up at the time of admission.
It must contain details on circumstances that led them there and money and other valuables in their possession and keep it with the safe custody of care homes.
The record should contain personal skills, accomplishments and wishes concerning arrangements after death.
In the Mayithara home here, it found false information in the register. Gold chain weighing four sovereigns of Usha, a retired teacher, had become "imitation gold" in the record.
Rex Bobby Arvin, DySP, VACB said the raids followed reports of “injustice taking place in the old age homes.”
“We have found no serious upkeep of registry. Officials did not specify whether the ornaments in custody are gold or not. No weight of ornaments is marked. They just put it in numbers," he said.
“They do not update details of food grains and other edible items kept there. So we would recommend SJD to set up a proper system to keep valuable assets safe and secure. We have registered no case since their intention was unclear."
The officials can easily cheat the inmates since they have no claimant after death. If their ornaments are recorded as imitation gold, nobody would care.
"As per the rule, they should deposit the valuables in the treasury after the death of inmates. But the flawed system can encourage erring officials. So the VACB has to carry out routine raids to keep the system in order," an inmate said.
