IFS officer empanelment: Uttarakhand High Court issues contempt notice to DoPT secretary

Nainital: The Uttarakhand High Court has issued a contempt notice to Dr Vivek Joshi, Secretary Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) for allegedly defying its order over the empanelment of an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer with the Centre.

Justice Alok Kumar Verma issued the notice to the DoPT on October 23 on a plea filed by IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi who alleged a wilful defiance of the court's order on his empanelment.

A division bench of the high court had directed the Central government in September to provide Chaturvedi with his empanelment documents as a joint secretary (JS).

He had moved the high court after the Central government passed an order saying the "appointment committee of cabinet had not approved" his empanelment for "holding the post of JS or equivalent at the Centre".

Chaturvedi had cited his "consistent outstanding grading"; appreciation of his performance as the chief vigilance officer in AIIMS, Delhi, by the central health ministry as "exemplary" besides four Presidential orders in his favour during his Haryana tenure, to support his claim on the empanelment.

He also referred to the several orders of the Uttarakhand High Court, Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court, making "favourable observations" on his performance and integrity to buttress his stand.

Chaturvedi alleged being "relentlessly persecuted by the powers that be, for years and years" for discharging his official duties "honestly and fearlessly" under the law.

The IFS officer said his October 21 contempt plea was a result of a "never-ending series of such events" and claimed despite intimation to the secretary, DoPT of the division bench order on September 11, 2024, followed by a reminder, the directives were "willfully defied".