CAT restrains health minister JP Nadda from 're-writing' confidential report of crusading bureaucrat

NEW DELHI: The Central Administrative Tribunal ( CAT) Wednesday restrained Union health minister JP Nadda from revising the annual confidential report (ACR) of Sanjiv Chaturvedi, former chief vigilance officer of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences ( AIIMS).

Chaturvedi had filed a petition before the tribunal that Nadda, as president of the government-controlled AIIMS, wanted to “rewrite” the ACR with a view to “finish his career and teach him a lesson for taking action against corrupt officials with significant political backup.” Chaturvedi was referring to cases he had pursued during his stint at the state-run teaching and research institute.

The development comes amid the turf battle between the central and Delhi state governments. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal wants Chaturvedi to head the state’s anti-corruption agency but hasn’t been able to get his way on this.

At the hearing on Wednesday, Chaturvedi highlighted a “fundamental” flaw in the health ministry’s May 28 decision. While Nadda became president of Aiims on December 5, the order said he took charge on November 9. The official gazette showed that the later date was the correct one, Chaturvedi’s lawyer said. As per the May 28 decision, Chaturvedi was informed Nadda would conduct the review because of certain “ambiguities” in the “manner and style of processing” his appraisal report for the year ended March.

The Indian Forest Service officer said Nadda didn’t have the “locus” to make “any entry” or to “rewrite” his ACR as his appraisal up to July 2014 had been finalised and accepted by the ministry of environment and forests, the parent ministry for the forestry service. As for his tenure at Aiims, the health minister and Aiims president at the time was Harsh Vardhan. Nadda took over from Vardhan as health minister in November last year, by which time Chaturvedi had left the post.

The CAT issued notices to Nadda as president of Aiims, the health secretary, and the Aiims director on Chaturvedi’s petition. The three officials have been asked to explain why the relevant portion of the appraisal report should not be forwarded to Vardhan.

During his tenure in Haryana, Chaturvedi had faced a similar situation that prompted him to approach the President of India. Aggrieved by “adverse entries” against him by the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government for 2010-12, Chaturvedi had sought the president’s intervention. In an unprecedented order, the president had expunged the adverse remarks against the IFS officer in a January 31, 2014, order.