CAT-Nanital issues contempt notice to Environment Ministry secretary regarding deputation of Sanjiv Chaturvedi

Nainital (Uttarakhand) [India], February 23 : Nainital bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has issued a contempt notice to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Secretary Leena Nandan on the issue of deputation of Uttarakhand cadre IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi into Institution of Lokpal.
The notice was issued on a contempt petition filed by the officer in which he had alleged wilful disobedience of the order of September 1 last year passed by the Tribunal.
A division bench of Justice Om Prakash and Administrative Member, Mohan Pyare reserved the judgment on February 20 while hearing the petition, which was later pronounced on Wednesday.
"From a perusal of the judgement of September 1, 2022, it is evident that this Tribunal had directed the respondent to decide the representation of the applicant but the respondent has not passed any order whereas the order of October 3, 2022, has been passed by the Director (IFS), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change," it said.
The tribunal further directed Leena Nandan to file a 'compliance report within a period of four weeks' and directed the matter to be listed on March 23.
In this matter, Sanjiv Chaturvedi had applied for deputation into Lokpal in Central Government in 2019 which the Government of Uttarakhand forwarded with their No Objection Certificate (NOC) and recommendation on December 23, 2019, to Nandan.
However, no decision was taken on the matter and the officer filed a petition before CAT in February 2020, for issuing directions to the Secretary.
In September 2022, Tribunal gave eight weeks' time to Nandan to take a decision in the matter or forward the case of the officer to Lokpal if they are of the view that the decision in the matter lies with the office of Lokpal.
However, on October 3 last year, instead of Secretary, Director (IFS) passed the order returning the case of the officer even after noting that, 'as per section 10(iii) of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, the appointment of officers and other staff shall be made by the Chairperson, Lokpal.'
Against this order, the officer had filed a contempt petition before Tribunal in December 2022 which came up for hearing in February 2022. Sanjiv Chaturvedi, an officer of the 2002 batch of the Indian Forest Service (IFS), had applied for Central Deputation in the organization of Lokpal in 2019 which was forwarded by the Uttarakhand government, with no objection certificate or recommendations on December 23, 2019, and since then the application was pending with Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF & CC).
Chaturvedi had earlier worked in the Government of Haryana and then as Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) at AIIMS, Delhi where he exposed many corruption cases. He was also given Ramon Magsaysay Award in July 2015 for his fight against corruption.