Kejriwal asks Centre to relieve whistleblower officer Chaturvedi

February 18, 2015 12:00 am | Updated December 04, 2021 11:36 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

Sanjiv Chaturvedi

Sanjiv Chaturvedi

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written to the Centre asking it to immediately relieve Sanjiv Chaturvedi, who is now deputy secretary at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

In what is being perceived as an exercise to bring in people with ‘clean public image’ the Chief Minister in his official communication dated February 16 to Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar has said: “I would be obliged if you personally look into the matter and get the requisite orders issued at the earliest.”

Mr. Chaturvedi, an Indian Forest Service officer, is currently with AIIMS and needs to be relieved so that he can be deputed to the Delhi Government.

“The Chief Minister has written that services of Sanjeev Chaturvedi, who is presently posted as deputy secretary AIIMS, New Delhi on Central deputation is urgently required to work as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Chief Minister’s Office, government of National Capital Territory of Delhi. The consent of the said officer is also enclosed,” Delhi govt. said in a statement.

Last year, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) along with more than 200 AIIMS faculty members, researchers and scientists had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding that Mr. Chaturvedi, be reinstated as the chief vigilance officer at the Institute. Mr. Chaturvedi was removed from the post in August last year by the Union Health Ministry.

Union Health Ministry had ruled out political intervention in the removal of Sanjiv Chaturvedi as the chief vigilance officer of AIIMS simply maintaining that he was “not eligible” for the position.

Not eligible

“He was not at all eligible for the post he was holding at AIIMS. We were informed that without the approval of the Central Vigilance Commission, nobody can be assigned the post of CVO anywhere. This was brought to our notice, we took cognisance of it and removed him from the post,” the then Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan had said.

Mr. Chaturvedi was removed from his position and Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry, Dr. Vishwas Mehta, was appointed as CVO.

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