In specific, the new health minister, he is trying to shield the corrupt people in health department...That is very much open debate that is going on in the media...He should not be replaced with good people like Harsh Vardhan...
Paid Media and News Traders represent vested interests, not facts. Its pathetic when you refer to such nebulous reports to represent facts.
Sanjiv Chaturvedi and AIIMS CVO controversy – Factual Record | India News Analysis Opinions on Niti Central
The charge of Chief Vigilance Officer AIIMS was recently taken away by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) from Sanjiv Chaturvedi IFoS Dy Secretary AIIMS and entrusted to the JS & CVO of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
A canard has been spread that Chaturvedi had been divested of the charge at the behest BJP MP JP Nadda and it is also alleged that it was done to help out an IAS officer of the HP cadre (Vineet Chawdhry HP 82) against whom Chaturvedi had levelled charges of corruption.
Factual Record on CVO at AIIMS
The Health Ministry had vested the charge of CVO AIIMS in 2012 with the Joint Secretary & CVO of the Ministry. However, the then Director of AIIMS had entrusted this charge to Sanjiv Chaturvedi sometime in 2012 superseding the order of the Health Ministry which the Director was not competent to do.
The Central Vigilance Commission had also refused to approve the appointment of Chaturvedi as CVO of AIIMS back in 2012. The Central Vigilance Commission through its letter dated 3/09/2012 had pointed out that Mr. Chaturvedi had been given the charge of the position of CVO AIIMS without its approval and it had asked for a fresh panel of appropriately senior level officers.
For inexplicable reasons, the Ministry of Health under then then UPA Government did not comply with the directions of the CVC in 2012.
The issue of appointment of CVOs in autonomous institutions was raised with the Department of Personnel through a parliament question raised by JP Nadda. The reply given by the then Minister of State confirmed the position that the approval of the CVC was an essential pre condition and that a panel had to be submitted to the CVC by any autonomous Institution under Government of India.
The attention of the then Union Health Minister (Ghulam Nabi Azad) was also drawn by Nadda regarding the non-compliance of procedure in the appointment of Sanjiv Chaturvedi as CVO AIIMS. Since no reply was received despite a reminder, the issue took center stage with the new Health Minister Harshvardhan.
The present order of the Ministry vesting the charge of the CVO AIIMS in JS and CVO of MOHFW merely restores the status quo ante that prevailed in 2012 under an arrangement put in place by the Ministry itself. Importantly, Sanjiv Chaturvedi has not been ‘shunted out’ from AIIMS as has been made out by the media. His appointment in AIIMS was as a Deputy Secretary and not as CVO: He continues to hold the post of Deputy Secretary AIIMS. Only additional charge of the post of CVO has been withdrawn from him for reasons stated above.
Concerns on Sanjiv Chaturvedi’s credibillity
Legitimate questions however need to be asked on why rules had been bent to facilitate
Sanjiv Chaturvedi’s role as CVO at AIIMS.
There are several allegations against him of insubordination, misconduct, physical violence against colleagues, harassment and dowry demands from wife/her family, and absconding from duty. Case of abetment to suicide of a forest guard is also said to be pending against him in the Punjab High Court.
Sanjiv Chaturvedi is an IFoS Officer of the 2002 batch. Even as a probationer in the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy at Dehradun, he was apparently served with more than 20 show cause notices for indiscipline and conduct unbecoming of a public servant. These were issued vide letters no 10 dated 8-1-2003, 97 dated 9/7/2003, 81 dated 25/6/2003, 76 dated 25/6/2003, 60 dated 23/5/2003, 137 dated 14/8/2003, 106 dated 16/7/2003, 186 and 187 dated 28/1/2004, 209 and 210 dated 2/2/2004, 240 dated 26/4/2004, 254 dated 11/5/2004, 307 dated 8/7/2004, 311 dated 14/7/2004, 348 dated 27/1/2005, 367 dated 31/5/2005 369 dated dated 2/6/2005 388 dated 19/7/2005 394 dated 25/7/2005 2168 dated 2/1/2010 and 2166 dated 1/1/2010.
During the year 2004, Chaturvedi it is alleged had assaulted Rakesh Jagania a fellow probationer who is from the scheduled caste community. The district magistrate Dehradun ordered the Academy to conduct an enquiry that is believed to have
found him guilty of such assault. During 2009, when Chaturvedi was sent on mid-term career
training to IIM Ahmedabad, it is alleged that he indulged in gross indiscipline on account of which he was reportedly denied the certificate of participation. It is also believed that the Academy authorities had to bring all this to the notice of the Chief Secretary, Government of Haryana.
Whistleblower Politics makes a comeback
It is curious how the Aam Admi Party and Arvind Kejriwal have sought to politicise the Sanjiv Chaturvedi by trumpeting him as “whistleblower”. The politics of this episode reminds of another so called “whistleblower” who was celebrated by the political parties in Gujarat before being thoroughly discredited by the courts. How long before Sanjiv Chaturvedi becomes the next Sanjeev Bhatt, going by the manner in which Delhi’s media has tom-tommed his version of the truth?
