Chaturvedi has been fighting with the Central government for a year for his transfer, alleging that he has been constantly targeted ever since he exposed corruption in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where he was chief vigilance officer, in which 'powerful politicians and bureaucrats' were involved.
Giving major relief to whistleblower and Indian Forest Services officer Sanjeev Chaturvedi, the Central Administrative Tribunal, on Wednesday, ordered the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) to reconsider his case for inter cadre deputation. In doing so, the CAT order quashed the PMO's order, given via the Department of Personnel and Training, that had, in January, returned Chaturvedi's proposal for change of cadre from Haryana to Uttarakhand to square one, despite both state governments giving their consent for said change.
Chaturvedi has been fighting with the Central government for a year for his transfer, alleging that he has been constantly targeted ever since he exposed corruption in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where he was chief vigilance officer, in which 'powerful politicians and bureaucrats' were involved. Soon after, he was removed as CVO by former Union health minister Harsh Vardhan. He is currently on central deputation as the deputy secretary at AIIMS.
He has been trying to change his cadre from Haryana as his work there also unearthed several cases of corruption in planting projects in Hisar and Jhajjar, involving officials and ministers in the then Congress state government. The investigation had led to the suspension of nine officers.
The CAT order had severely taken the Appointments Committee of Cabinet to task for "violating the rules of natural justice". It takes cognisance of the threats Chaturvedi faced from the Haryana government for exposing scams involving politicians, stating that "the instances of harassment appear to be on the extreme side and deserve to be taken serious note of". Quoting Tagore, it strongly states "we do hope that a situation may never arise, where honesty is punished and corruption rewarded. Such a system cannot be expected to last for a long time."
The CAT order also takes into account that a two member enquiry team of the Ministry of Environment and Forests had found "charges of extreme hardship including harassment/threats true" and had recommend a change in cadre for Chaturvedi. The MOEF had even recommended a CBI probe into the matter which this order notes was ignored. It says that there is "very little scope for the ACC to decline the approval". It adds that the "impugned order dated 28.01.2015 is rendered infructuous ipso facto", validating Chaturvedi's stand.
While directing the ACC to reconsider Chaturvedi's proposal "expeditiously" it also gives Chaturvedi the option of approaching the CAT again in case "the order of the competent authority on his representation does not match up to his satisfaction and expectation".
Centre delaying his transfer
Chaturvedi had approached the CAT in April after the ACC sent back his transfer proposal to square one. He had first applied for the transfer in July 2014. He had filed an affidavit with CAT listing examples of other inter cadre deputation approved by the ACC even in cases where rules were flouted or ignored. On the other had, he had claimed that everything in his proposal was in perfect order yet the Centre was repeatedly delaying its approval.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}