In a fresh affidavit filed with the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), whistleblower bureaucrat Sanjeev Chaturvedi has levelled serious allegations against the functioning of a body chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
An Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer of the 2002 batch and an ex-chief vigilance officer of AIIMS, Mr. Chaturvedi’s appointment as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) with the Delhi Government yet to fructify pending legal proceedings in his ongoing case of cadre change from Haryana to Uttarakhand.
The Centre had, recently, attributed delay in relieving Mr. Chaturvedi to fresh elections and the formation of two new State Governments last year.
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According to his affidavit, filed on March 23 and 30, the officer has submitted that while in Uttarakhand the government was still the same which had earlier given consent while, in the case of Haryana, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) had given approval to a number of similar cases without seeking the consent from the new government.
Mr. Chaturvedi also contended that the State government was a continuous institution and as per a Supreme Court order the change of government does not mean review of each and every order.
The officer showed data from May 29, 2014 and March 25, 2015, to show that in 29 cases of inter-cadre deputations, decided by ACC, during this period, policy was flouted in 14 cases, that is half of the cases.
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Mr. Chaturvedi alleged that while his case, despite being within the rules, was kept pending for more than six months and left undecided, the cases which were ineligible were decided favourably and expeditiously.
After obtaining consent of both the State governments, the Ministry of Environment and Forest had recommended Mr. Chaturvedi’s cadre change on the ground of extreme hardship in July 2014 to the ACC.
However, on January 28 this year, the ACC asked for seeking fresh consent from both the State governments. This order of ACC was challenged by the officer in the CAT which granted stay on ACC order on February 18 and asked the Central government to file reply.
The Central government in its reply took the plea that fresh consents were sought in view of change in the State governments.
The officer alleged that for the past seven months, he is being continuously humiliated for his action of exposing corruption in AIIMS involving politicians and bureaucrats presently occupying influential positions at the Central and State governments.