A report submitted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the removal of IFS official Sanjiv Chaturvedi from the position of Chief Vigilance Officer of AIIMS makes no mention of the letters written by BJP general secretary J.P. Nadda to the Health Minister Harsh Vardhan seeking his removal.
>Mr. Chaturvedi , a whistleblower, was removed after the NDA government came to power.
It was alleged that his removal was carried out at the behest of Mr. Nadda, who had written four letters between May 2013 and June 2014 on the issue. Mr. Nadda had alleged irregularity in the appointment of Mr. Chaturvedi during the UPA government’s tenure and asked Dr. Harsh Vardhan for his repatriation to his parent cadre Haryana.
After the issue became contentious, the Ministry on August 23, 2014 submitted a report to Mr. Modi, stating that the position of the CVO was not approved by the General Body and the Institute’s Body, and that there was no independent post of CVO in AIIMS.
It also said Mr. Chaturvedi was given additional charge as CVO. All these assertions have been contested by Mr. Chaturvedi, citing relevant documents.
While the Health Secretary could not be reached for comment, documents accessed by The Hindu show that the Ministry has not made any mention of the letters Mr. Nadda wrote to the Health Minister seeking Mr. Chaturvedi’s removal and also suggesting a replacement.
On June 11, 2014, Mr. Nadda wrote to Dr. Vardhan for “immediately divesting” Mr. Chaturvedi of the charge of CVO and “entrusting the same to a senior faculty member such as Dr. Vinod Paul, head of the department, Paediatrics, AIIMS.”
A response from Dr. Vardhan to Mr. Nadda on July 8, 2014 stating that the Secretary has been asked to “take necessary action” has also not been mentioned in the report to Mr. Modi. The Prime Minister has also not been informed of the commitment given to a Parliamentary Committee on June 8, 2012 by the former Health Secretary P.K. Pradhan for entrusting the charge of CVO to the newly appointed Deputy Secretary Mr. Chaturvedi.
Earlier, when the UPA government had tried to shift out Mr. Chaturvedi to the department of AYUSH, it had resulted in the issue of a notice of breach of privilege to the then Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad by former Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee.
