CBI unearths appointment scam in LIC

Jammu, Oct 14 (UNI) Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) have unearthed an appointment scam in the LIC Branch of Kathua and registered a case against two officers, official sources said here today.

A team of CBI and ACB started investigation following complaints of irregularities in appointments in Kathua branch of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in July 2005, sources said.

Branch Manager Naresh Pal Sharma and Higher Grade Assistant Baru Ram Bhagat managed educational certificates of various persons and issued appointment orders in there names as temporary assistants and sub-staff for 89 days without receiving any application forms or conducting any interview of the candidates.

According to the report, 22 persons were never appointed and did not work in the Kathua Branch of LIC during the said period and as such they never received any payments.

However, these persons were shown to have received Rs 5.25 lakh as salary amount which were actually never disbursed by the accused persons, thereby causing wrongful loss to the company.

The case against Sharma and Bhagat under different sections of RPC and Prevention of Corruption Act have been registered and further investigation are on.

UNI