168. Sanjiv Chaturvedi  Ramon Magsaysay Award for emergent leadership 2015

Sanjiv Chaturvedi is an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer and currently a deputy secretary at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).[2][3] He also served as a Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) at AIIMS during 2012-14.

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Indian Forest Service[edit]

Sanjiv Chaturvedi is a 1995 batch Electrical Engineer from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (NIT Allahabad) and a 2002 batch Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer from the Haryana cadre. He was ranked second in the IFS exam, and won two medals for excellence as a trainee. His first posting was in Kurukshetra, where he registered an FIR against contractors involved in the construction of Hansi Butana canal. He accused the contractors of illegal tree felling and poaching hog deer in the nearby Saraswati Wildlife Sanctuary. He was reprimanded by the Principal Secretary (Forests), and transferred to Fatehabad. In August 2007, he was suspended for insubordination. Soon after his suspension, the Haryana Forest Department started prosecution against the contractors, based on earlier reports filed by him. The Haryana Government protected the violators, after a Delhi-based NGO moved against them in the Supreme Court.[4]

Chaturvedi accused MLA Prahlad Singh Gillakhera of corruption, stating that his relatives were buying rare trees for their personal gardens with the taxpayers' money.[5] During 2007-08, Chaturvedi alleged corruption in a project for establishment of a herbal park. The scam allegedly involved a state minister, an MLA and some bureaucrats. He also exposed irregularities in the plantation projects in Hissar and Jhajjar. Following this, several criminal cases were filed against him. According to his supporters, these were based on bogus FIRs. He also faced four inquiries by the Vigilance Bureau. As an officer in Haryana, Chaturvedi was transferred 12 times.[4][6] Chaturvedi's in-laws filed a dowry case against him, and his marriage ended in divorce. According to his supporters, his ex-wife was persuaded to believe that he sought the transfers to avoid her.[5] In 2009, a case was registered against him for misuse of funds and bogus plantation in Jhajjar district – this was the same case which had exposed corruption in, leading to suspension of nine officers.[7]

Alleging that he was being harassed by the Haryana State Government, Chaturvedi requested a Central Government deputation in 2010. He complained of harassment to President Pratibha Patil, who referred his case to the Cabinet Secretariat. Acting on the directions of the Cabinet Secretariat, the Ministry of Environment and Forests constituted a two-member panel to study the accusations, in 2010. The Ministry's in-house inquiry found merit in Chaturvedi's allegations, and referred the case to CBI, whose preliminary analysis found the allegations worthy of investigation. The Ministry then referred the case to Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), and recommended a CBI investigation. The Ministry also confirmed the harassment of Chaturvedi and recommended quashing of cases against him. The chargesheet against him was quashed by the President on 19 January 2011.[8] Accordingly, the chargesheet was quashed by the President on January 19. The Haryana government rejected the Ministry's findings, and asked it to take a fresh look at the case. However, this demand was rejected by the ministry.[8] The Haryana Government refused to relieve Chaturvedi for Central deputation, but in May 2012, an order from the Ministry overruled the Haryana Government.[4] Between years 2008 to 2014, the President passed four orders in support of Chaturvedi, quashing the Haryana Government's orders.[9]

Immediately after his central deputation, Chaturvedi brought the cases of corruption involving Haryana Chief Minister, Forest Minister and other senior functionaries by filing a criminal writ petition before the Supreme Court of India. The Court issued notices for CBI investigation in November, 2012.

Sanjeev Tomar case[edit]

In 2009, Sanjeev Tomar, a Haryana forest range officer, was found dead after initiation of anti-corruption proceedings against him. His father Rampal Singh Tomar initially told the police that Sanjeev had died due to other reasons. Later, he changed his statement and claimed that his son had committed suicide due to harassment by Chaturvedi and subsequent suspension.[10] According to the Jhajjar Superintendent of Police, Chaturvedi had nothing to do with suicide of Tomar, who was disturbed due to corruption and dowry cases against him.[11] Multiple special investigation teams (SIT) formed to probe the case gave a clean chit to Chaturvedi. According to the SIT reports, Sanjeev Tomar had committed suicide because of an anti-corruption inquiry against him and also because he was facing litigation from his wife; he had been living with another woman named Promila.[12]

In February 2015, the Punjab and Haryana High Court recommended formation of a new SIT to probe the allegations that Sanjeev Tomar had committed suicide due to harassment by Chaturvedi. This was based on a petition filed by the deceased's father, Rampal Singh Tomar. Chaturvedi moved in a review petition before the Court, challenging the orders to form an SIT.[13] Chaturvedi's counsel had argued that the case had already been investigated by four different SITs and reviewed by senior police officers, who had found no evidence of harassment. He stated that constituting a fresh SIT would amount to hounding the officer who had exposed several scams. In April 2015, the Court accepted the petition, and recalled its earlier order. The Court also dismissed the writ petition of Rampal Singh.[10]

AIIMS[edit]

On 29 June 2012, Chaturvedi was made the Deputy Secretary of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. He was also given the additional charge of Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) at AIIMS. As a CVO, Chaturvedi took action against the doctors who were making unauthorized foreign trips. During his tenure, the police seized banned drugs worth ₹ 6 crore from a vehicle supplying drugs to an on-campus pharmacy owned by an Indian National Congress MLA. The then health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, signed two internal reports which rated Chaturvedi's work as a CVO as "outstanding".[6] Chaturvedi initiated actions in around 200 corruption cases during his stint as AIIMS CVO; punishment was imposed in 78 cases, chargesheet was issued in 87 cases and more than 20 cases were referred to CBI for criminal investigation.

In 2014, Chaturvedi was relieved from the additional charge of CVO, although he continued to retain the Deputy Director post at AIIMS. On August 16, he wrote a letter to the new health minister Harsh Vardhan of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alleging that his removal from the CVO post was a result of campaign by corrupt officials. He was supported by AIIMS staff, who wrote a letter to the Prime Minister asking for his reinstatement. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) held protests in his support. The media and the AAP alleged that the BJP leader JP Nadda was acting against Chaturvedi on behalf of Vineet Chaudhary, an IAS officer from his own state, Himachal Pradesh. As a CVO, Chaturvedi had accused Chaudhary of bending rules to give tenure extension to an engineer supervising works worth ₹ 3,700 crore. Nadda had reportedly started the proposal for removal of Chaturvedi with a letter, on which 20 signatures were added within 24 hours.[14] Chaturvedi had also accused two security contractor firms of serious violations, one of which was owned by the BJP Rajya Sabha MP RK Sinha.[6][15]

Harsh Vardhan stated that Chaturvedi had been removed because was not eligible for the CVO post, and the government had no malafide intention in the decision. He pointed out that a 2012 letter by CVC indicated that he had been appointed as CVO without the Commission's approval. He stated that this was brought to his attention recently, and the step of removing Chaturvedi was taken accordingly. He also stated that the CVO function was being duplicated at the Ministry and AIIMS levels, and that JP Nadda had no role to play in Chaturvedi's removal. He also pointed out that Chaturvedi had not been removed from AIIMS, and continued to be its Deputy Secretary.[16][17]

After Chaturvedi's controversial removal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Harsh Vardhan for a report on the case. In the resulting report, the Health Secretary Lov Verma argued that AIIMS did not had any independent post of CVO, and Chaturvedi had been given only additional charge as an "internal arrangement." The newspaper DNA alleged that several facts about Chaturvedi's appointment and removal were concealed from the Prime Minister in the this report.[14]

In June 2015, Chaturvedi petitioned the Central Administrative Tribunal to grant him promotion to Director (selection grade), which he had been scheduled to receive in January, but which had been blocked due to his anti-corruption stance. Following a court order, Chaturvedi received his promotion with effect from 1 January.[2]

Anti-Corruption Bureau[edit]

In 2015, the media reported that AAP was planning to appoint Chaturvedi as the chief of Delhi anti-corruption bureau.[18] On 17 February 2015, and again on 28 February 2015, Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Cabinet Minister Prakash Javdekar, asking for deputation of Chaturvedi to Delhi, as an Officer on Special Duty. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) directed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to give its assent to Chaturvedi's deputation to the Delhi Government.[19]

Change to Uttrakhand Cadre[edit]

The officer had applied for change of his cadre from Haryana to Uttrakhand in October, 2012 on the grounds of ‘extreme hardship’ including frequent transfers, suspension and false police/departmental cases. After the approvals of both the State Government Ministry of Environment and Forest also recommended for a cadre change in July, 2014, to the appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister. However, on 28.01.2015, ACC ordered to bring fresh NOC from both the State Governments. This order was challenged by the officer in Central Administrative Tribunal, which first stayed and then quashed this order in May, 2015, giving two months time to the ACC for passing order on Cadre Change. On 13.08.2015, the ACC led by the Prime Minister approved the Cadre Change in compliance with Tribunal orders.[20]

Awards and recognition[edit]

Two medals in the subjects of “People and Forest” and “Biodiversity and Wildlife Management”, from the then President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam in August, 2005 after completion of training at Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun.

Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award (2009), for his work in Haryana[21]

S R Jindal Prize in 2011 for "Crusade against Corruption" with a cash prize of Rs. 10 Lakhs, for his efforts in exposing corruption in high places.[22]

Ramon Magsaysay Award for emergent leadership (2015): Chaturvedi was recognized for "his exemplary integrity, courage and tenacity in uncompromisingly exposing and painstakingly investigating corruption in public office, and his resolute crafting of program and system improvements to ensure that government honorably serves the people of India."[23]

Chaturvedi has been invited by National Police Academy (Hyderabad), National Administrative Academy (Mussourie), and National Forest Academy (Dehradun) for delivering lecture to senior officers and probationers on issue of anti-corruption strategies.