CHANDIGARH: The Haryana governor has sought comments from the chief secretary on the allegations of
Magsaysay Award winner and whistleblower Indian
Forest Service (IFS) officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi that the state government is trying to quash governor's orders regarding dropping the chargesheet against him.
A letter in this regard has been sent from governor Kaptan Singh Solanki, through his secretary's office in Raj Bhawan, to chief secretary D S Dhesi seeking his comment "so that the same may be placed before the governor for the kind perusal".
The Raj Bhawan has sought the clarification after receiving a representation from Chaturvedi seeking governor's intervention on the issue.
In letter written to the governor on November 1, the former Haryana cadre officer, who is now part of
Uttarakhand cadre, had said that the President had passed an order on January 19, 2011, quashing the departmental chargesheet issued against him by the then state government. The order of the President was implemented by the Haryana governor through a notification.
Chaturvedi had alleged that with a motive to compound the case, the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led
Congress government in 2014 had filed a petition before the HC for quashing the President's orders and the Central government panel's recommendations for a CBI probe into the scams exposed by him.
"In their petition, Haryana has completely concealed the governor's notification. This is for the first time in constitutional history of the country where a state government had filed a petition for getting nullified the order of their own governor," Chaturvedi had stated in his letter.
According Chaturvedi, at present posted in Haldwani, the subject of the All India Services falls in the Union list and accordingly, the decision of the Central government/President are supreme and binding on the state.
Chaturvedi had also criticized the present Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government in Haryana, which was in opposition at that time and had demanded a CBI probe into the same issue, for endorsing the petition filed by the Hooda government. "It is beyond comprehension that a state government should oppose an independent CBI probe into loot of public money," the letter had stated.
In his three-page letter supported by all documents related to the case, Chaturvedi had requested the Haryana government "to ensure that sanctity of the All India Service Act and related rules are maintained" and "to identify and punish the officials responsible for concealing governor's notification" before the HC.
The Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) report of the two-member panel comprising inspector general of forest A K
Srivastava and Shally Ranjan had indicted the offices of then CM Bhupinder Hooda and other senior officers/bureaucrats for fabricating false charges against Chaturvedi and had recommended a CBI inquiry. Subsequently, the President had revoked the chargesheet against Chaturvedi on January 19, 2011.
