Bangalore Mirror: Bangalore: Friday,
September 09, 2016.
Former
Congress MLC Allama Prabhu Patil (in pic) has withdrawn his medical
reimbursement claim of Rs 1.9 lakh, supposedly spent on skin allergy treatment.
The claims were withdrawn after an application was made under the Right to
Information (RTI) Act seeking the doctor's prescriptions. RTI applicant Sharan
Desai alleged that these were fake claims made by Patil. He said: "The
secretariat officials pointed out that it was not the first time that an
elected representative had submitted an application for a 'weird' claim."
The
secretariat staff reacted to his RTI application after two years. In the reply,
H Malleshappa, undersecretary, Karnataka legislative council, wrote back to
Desai after he asked for a copy of the original claim form filed and signed by
Patil for a reimbursement of Rs 1.9 lakh. He had also asked for a copy of the
doctor's prescriptions and other skin allergy test and treatment details.
Malleshappa
said: "The member (Patil) has withdrawn the bills and they are not
available in accounts section. Hence, these cannot be provided."
Further, he
stated that during Patil's tenure as MLC, two mediclaims were approved. For the
period between October 6, 2010 and May 7, 2011, a bill of Rs 15,007 was
approved. On September 27, 2012, Rs 6,967 was sanctioned.
According to
secretariat staff, Patil submitted two bills - Rs 1.26 lakh on January 10, 2014
and Rs 63,338 on January 30, 2014 - totalling to Rs 1.9 lakh. The same bills
were submitted to administrative medical officer of the legislative home, who
ascertained the bills. Later, on June 16, 2014, Patil wrote back seeking
withdrawals of bills, and this was also approved by the speaker.
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