Health Ministry Fires Honest Chief Vigilance Officer

[JANASENA]

In a series of moves that is increasingly being seen as a government clampdown on anti-corruption, is the removal of Sanjiv Chaturvedi, Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of AIIMS.

The move has been alarming particularly as Chaturvedi has been instrumental in unearthing several corruption cases at AIIMS.

Scams unearthed by Sanjiv Chaturvedi include:

-Financial irregularities from 2 senior AIIMS officials. A CBI case was filed and proceedings have been initiated against the named.

-Multi-crore racket at the Trauma Center involving the staff employed there.

-T R Mahajan, a stores officer who has since been suspended, was found to have circumvented rules to buy products like disinfectants and fogging solutions from a company owned by his son and daughter-in-law at higher rates.

Exposing scams appears to have been part of Chaturvedi's career even during his tenure as IFS officer in Haryana [which apparently did not go down well with the Bhuipinder Singh Hooda - led Haryana state government].

He has been awarded the S R Jindal Prize for 'Crusade against Corruption' in 2011, along with Ashok Khemka. 

While Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had earlier not provided a reason for the ouster, he has since attempted to clarify the reason by stating that Chaturvedi was not eligible for the post since his appointment had been made without the approval of the Central Vigilance Commission [CVC].

In the interim, Vishwas Mehta, joint secretary and CVO at the ministry of health and family welfare has been assigned the portfolio for three months with immediate effect.While it is not known whether this appointment came with the approval of the CVC, it certainly had the health minister's approval.

In an interesting case of amnesia, the Health Minister seems to have forgotten the Health Secretary had approved Chaturvedi's appointment as conforming to statutory requirements on May 23rd, as revealed by AIIMS faculty.

It is also interesting that the ministry could not in this case approach the CVC and attempt to obtain the approval. Especially since this would certainly have been an easier task than introducing a bill in the Parliament to amend the law and thus clear legal hurdles, as was done earlier in the appointment of the principal secretary to PM 

Doctors from the AIIMS have today started a signature campaign protesting Chaturvedi's removal.