Nainital (Uttarakhand) [India]: In a major development, Uttarakhand High Court has issued contempt notices, by name, to Dr Vivek Joshi, Secretary, Department of Personal and Training, in Government of India, on Petition of Uttarakhand Cadre IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi.
The notices were issued by Justice Alok Verma, on October 23, after Chaturvedi filed a Contempt Petition before the High Court about non-compliance of its orders passed on September 3rd, in which the High Court had directed Central Government, “to give the record relating to the process and decision making of the empanelment of the petitioner at the level of the Joint Secretary, who decided on 15.11.2022”. The order further clarified that “only the records relating to the petitioner’s empanelment shall be supplied to the petitioner.”
High Court has directed for ‘steps to be taken within a week’ and a fixed date of December 19th for the next hearing.
The officer had appeared in person before the High Court to argue against this Contempt Petition.
In the Contempt Petition filed before the High Court, Chaturvedi alleged that despite intimating the Secretary, DoPT, about this order through his letters dated 11.09.2024 and followed by a reminder, orders of the High Court are being ‘willfully defied’.
In September this year, in a landmark judgement while hearing a Writ Petition filed by Chaturvedi, a Division Bench of Uttarakhand High Court headed by Chief Justice Ritu Bahri had ordered the Central Government to give him records related to his empanelment process at the level of Joint Secretary.
On November 15th, in the year 2022, the Central Government passed an order which had said that the ‘Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has not approved’, the empanelment of Sanjiv Chaturvedi for ‘holding the post of JS /equivalent at the Centre’.
In his Petition, before the High Court, Chaturvedi cited his ‘consistent Outstanding grading’, appreciation of his performance as Chief Vigilance Officer(CVO) in AIIMS by Union Health Ministry as ‘exemplary’, four Presidential orders passed in his favour during his Haryana tenure and various orders of Uttarakhand High Court, Delhi High Court as well as Supreme Court, making favourable observations about his performance and integrity.
He had also alleged being, ‘relentlessly persecuted by powers that be, for years and years, for discharging his official duties honestly and fearlessly, under law of land and the present petition is the result of never-ending series of such events’.
Earlier, in February last year, the Circuit Bench of CAT, Nainital had issued contempt notices of Ms Leena Nandan, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, on issue of Central Deputation of Chaturvedi, which is still pending.
In September last year and March this year, the Delhi High Court missed contempt Notices to three senior CBI officers.
Contempt proceedings against then Chairman Justice L Narasimha Reddy were also initiated by the Nainital High Court in February 2019 on the Petition of Chaturvedi, and pending since then.