NEW DELHI: Ramon Magsaysay award winner bureaucrat Sanjiv Chaturvedi on Tuesday donated the entire award money to All India Institute of Medical Sciences for treatment of poor patients.
In a letter to AIIMS director, the 2002-batch Indian Forest Service officer Chaturvedi said, “I am donating the entire award money into the accounts of the institute (after depositing advance income tax of Rs 5.63 lakh on the said award money) for providing financial assistance to the treatment of the poor patients, particularly those affected by various types of cancer.”
Whistleblower Chaturvedi has received Rs 19.85 lakh as award money of which Rs 5.63 lakh has to be deposited as advance tax. In the letter, he also requested for a separate register to be maintained to record complete detail of the patients and financial assistance granted to them, in a transparent manner.
“I request that a separate register may be maintained under the supervision of medical superintendent to record complete detail of the patients and financial assistance granted to them, in a transparent manner so that the said amount could be utilised in most effective manner,” Chaturvedi said.
Chaturvedi is currently posted as deputy secretary of AIIMS after being removed from the post of CVO in August last year. Last month, Chaturvedi was transferred from Haryana cadre to Uttarakhand cadre after the Centre approved the inter-cadre transfer of the officer. The Magsaysay Award winner was given clearance for his inter-cadre deputation by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on August 12. The central government had decided to change his cadre to Uttarakhand from Haryana after he had approached the CAT for the same, citing extreme hardships in the state for exposing corruption
Chaturvedi was removed from the post of CVO of AIIMS even though his appointment order had been for a fixed tenure of four years, ending in June 2016. He was removed as he had initiated probe into scams in AIIMS. Chaturvedi had faced 12 transfers after he had exposed irregularities in the Haryana forest department during 2005 to 2010.
Chaturvedi and Anshu Gupta, the founder of a Non Government Organization Goonj, were chosen for the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2015. Chaturvedi was selected for the award under the “Emergent Leadership” category for his “exemplary integrity, courage and tenacity in uncompromisingly exposing and painstakingly exposing corruption in public office”.