CAT seeks Govt. response on Chaturvedi’s plea

Sanjiv Chaturvedi has alleged that there is a concerted effort to delay his induction into the Delhi Government

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has asked the Centre for a response to a petition alleging “malafide (intent), arbitrariness and play of ulterior motives” against whistleblower Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi.

In an order on Wednesday, the CAT gave the Central Government, the Ministry of Environment & Forest and the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) a week to respond to what Mr. Chaturvedi has alleged is a concerted effort to delay his induction into the Delhi Government on the basis of faux irregularities in a cadre transfer obtained by him in July, 2014.

In March 2012, Mr. Chaturvedi, a 2002 batch officer of the Haryana cadre, was posted as the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) till 2016.

His removal in August last year, two years before the end of his tenure, had kicked up a controversy after he attributed it to measures initiated by him against “corrupt practices”. The development had brought the role of Union Health Minister J..P. Nadda under the scanner as he had recommended his removal from the post.

The spotlight has come back on Mr. Chaturvedi after the Aam Aadmi Party Government wrote to the Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar to relieve him for being appointed as Offficer on Special Duty with Arvind Kejriwal’s office.

In its order, the CAT directed that the replies must be filed by February 26. In his petition, Mr. Chaturvedi has challenged an order approved by the Competent Authority and issued by the DoPT to re-submit the proposal for a cadre change after obtaining fresh consents from the State Governments of Haryana and Uttarakhand for inter-cadre transfer. This inter-cadre transfer, Mr. Chaturvedi has petitioned, were obtained despite “suspension for a period of five months, a number of other extreme hardships including departmental charge sheets/false police cases/spoiling of ACRs...” but were still “being deliberately delayed and illegal orders are being passed to harass” him.

Mr. Chaturvedi has stated that though more than two years have passed since the submission of his request of cadre change, the same was “not being decided deliberately and willfully...despite the consents of the State Governments being there, and the recommendation of Cadre Controlling Authority, on the grounds of extreme hardship.”