G C Chaturvedi to replace Mittal in Commonwealth Games committee

G C Chaturvedi, a 1977 batch IAS officer, will replace Sanjeev Mittal, whose services were terminated from organising committee (OC) of the Commonwealth Games by its chairman, Suresh Kalmadi.

Mittal was a financial expert, reportedly appointed by the prime minister’s office. Kalmadi is said to have taken this decision after Mittal declined to clear certain financial transactions that he believed were irregular.

The Games organising committee, however, denies the association with PMO. “PMO never sent any person to the OC. It is we who ask for these officers. In the past, too, a lot of people were sent back to their cadres and this will continue in future, too,” Lalit Bhanot, spokesperson for and secretary general of the OC told Business Standard.

Though Kalmadi could not be reached for comments, Bhanot remarked: “We have many people in finance and we wanted a senior person who could handle finance and accounts. Mittal was only handling the ticketing part of finance. By the end of this week, Chaturvedi will join us.”

Bhanot added the OC had written to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for Mittal’s repatriation, without citing any reason for it.

However, an official from the sports ministry denied Mittal’s involvement in any scandal. “A letter from Kalmadi addressed to the defence secretary said Mittal’s services were no longer required by the OC and that he was being repatriated to his parent cadre — the Indian Defence Accounts Service. Mittal did finance work for the OC and had problems in adjusting in the organisation. He had adjustment problems in the outfit,” said the sports ministry official.

Sanjeev Mittal, a 1984 Indian Defence Accounts Service official, was served the letter of termination by the Games organising committee on February 19.