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Kejriwal made this request in a letter addressed to Prakash Javadekar, Union minister for environment, forests and climate change, on Monday — the first day in office. As Chaturvedi is an Indian Forest Service officer, the environment ministry serves as the cadre-controlling authority and will need to clear the move.
Kejriwal wrote: “The services of Shri Sanjiv Chaturvedi, who is presently posted as deputy secretary, AIIMS (All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences), New Delhi on Central deputation, are urgently required to work as Officer on Special Duty in the Chief Minister’s office, Government of NCT of Delhi. The consent of the said officer is enclosed herewith.” He added, “I would be highly obliged if you could kindly personally look into the matter and get the requisite orders issued at the earliest.”
Javadekar directed his officials to “immediately put up” the matter regarding Chaturvedi’s transfer. “I have asked officials to put up file before me immediately. We give importance to the letters, communication we receive from all chief ministers,” said Javadekar, according to news agency Press Trust of India.
Chaturvedi is a Haryana cadre forest officer, deputed to the central government for about two years. He was working as the chief vigilance officer and deputy secretary of AIIMS before this government removed him from the anti-graft post. This was done after Bharatiya Janata Party leader J P Nadda, then a member of Parliament, wrote to then health minister Harsh Vardhan to remove Chaturvedi and suspend all investigations into the corruption cases in AIIMS. Chaturvedi had by then successfully completed investigations and prosecutions in about 150 corruption cases at AIIMS and was pursuing other cases involving senior officials. Subsequently, Nadda himself became the health minister and Chaturvedi was not assigned the post back.
Recently, the Prime Minister’s Office had also put on hold Chaturvedi’s long-pending formal request to be transferred from the parent Haryana cadre to Uttarakhand. He cited threats of harassment from the state government for unearthing scams that indicted senior officials and ministers in the then Congress state government. Despite having the approval of the two states, the Centre has asked the state governments to again provide their approval for the transfer. This had sent the proposal back to the start.
Notably, in the case of Durga Shakti Nagpal, the Union government had overlooked service rules to bring her on deputation to the central government, to work as an officer in the rural development ministry.
Sources in the AAP had initially suggested Kejriwal wanted Chaturvedi to become head of the Delhi-anti-corruption bureau, which reports to the city government. However, Kejriwal’s letter suggests he wishes to appoint Chaturvedi as an OSD in his chief minister’s office.
