Delhi High Court notice to JP Nadda on irregularities unearthed by Sanjiv Chaturvedi

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Union Health Minister JP Nadda on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking CBI probe into irregularities unearthed by IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi during his stint in AIIMS as its Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO).

A division bench comprising Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice RS Endlaw sought responses from Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) and Chaturvedi within four weeks. The PIL has been filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest litigation (CPIL) seeking revival of all cases in which action were initiated by Chaturvedi before he was sacked by then Union Health Minister Harshvardhan in August last year.

Chaturvedi, incidentally, is now Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s handpicked candidate to assist him as Officer on Special Duty (OSD).

Arguing the matter, noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan, also a member of AAP, said that Chaturvedi initiated action in corruption cases related to various malpractices including “supply of dubious medicines by a private chemist shop, having influential political nexus, role of middlemen in making fake out-patient department (OPD) cards”.