Don-turned-politician Arun Gawli, who has been imprisoned again for an extortion case, submitted four medical expenditure bills of nearly Rs4 lakh for reimbursement from the state legislature secretariat four months ago.
Don-turned-politician Arun Gawli, who has been imprisoned again for an extortion case, submitted four medical expenditure bills of nearly Rs4 lakh for reimbursement from the state legislature secretariat four months ago.
However, the proposal was turned down since Gawli has five children, beyond the permissible limit of two. Now, to become eligible for the reimbursement, the ex-MLA claims to have undergone the family planning procedure.
Gawli, who underwent a heart-related treatment a few months ago, was subject to the government resolution of 2000 that clearly states that members with more than two children are not entitled to reimbursement. However, the rulebook also maintains that if the member or his spouse has undergone a family planning procedure, s/he will be eligible for the reimbursement.
Gawli then produced a certificate of the family planning initiative from a South Mumbai hospital. A committee consisting of a health director, medical education director and the deputy secretary of legislature, sought authentication of the certificate from JJ hospital. The hospital in turn, has submitted its report to the state legislature. The committee will consider the claim, based on the report, in its meeting in the next few days.
Interestingly, this was the first time that Gawli claimed reimbursement against the medical expenditure. “During his 5-year tenure as MLA between 2004 and 2009, he never submitted a reimbursement claim for medical expenditure of his own or his family members. This was the first time. The claim has ratification from the jail authorities and requisite attachments against the expenditure,” said an official.
The state government makes a provision of Rs3.5 crore per year for medical expenditure reimbursement of sitting and former members of both the houses and their family members. Many members were denied the reimbursement last year for having more than two children.
“Until recently, a mere declaration from the members that they do not have more than two children was enough, but after the court directed us to undertake a thorough verification of the applicants, the committee verifies the documents very carefully,” the official said.
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