DEHRADUN: In a dramatic escalation of a long-running bureaucratic dispute, Sanjeev Chaturvedi, the prominent Uttarakhand cadre Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer and Magsaysay Award laureate, has initiated criminal proceedings against India’s top bureaucrat, Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan.
Chaturvedi has accused Somanathan of filing a false affidavit and making defamatory remarks in court, seeking stringent criminal action from the Nainital High Court. The High Court is scheduled to hear the petition on September 16.
This legal battle stems from a controversy dating back to Chaturvedi’s tenure as Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. During his time there, he initiated several high-profile corruption investigations, which later became the subject of various legal challenges.
The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), in February 2023, ordered the production of documents related to these AIIMS corruption cases. Following alleged non-compliance, CAT initiated contempt proceedings in May 2023 against both the Cabinet Secretary and the Union Health Secretary.
It is against this backdrop of alleged non-adherence to tribunal orders that the new legal challenge has emerged in the High Court.
Chaturvedi has not only termed the writ petition filed by the Cabinet Secretary as “baseless” but also strongly objected to the allegations made within it. To substantiate his claims, he presented to the court a 2014 file noting from then Union Health Secretary Love Verma and Health Ministry CVO Vishwas Mehta. The document reportedly praised Chaturvedi’s integrity and dedication as “outstanding.”
Speaking on the matter, Chaturvedi said, “It is deeply unfortunate that the petition filed by the country’s Cabinet Secretary contains baseless and defamatory allegations.”
He added, “The anti-corruption actions taken during my tenure were consistently affirmed in writing by top officials of the Health Ministry, confirming the integrity and merit of my work.”
The case underscores the ongoing friction between a decorated officer known for his anti-corruption stance and the highest levels of the bureaucracy, setting the stage for a closely watched legal battle in the coming weeks.