Dehradun: Citing 'conflict of interest', Uttarakhand IFS officer and Ramon Magsaysay awardee Sanjiv Chaturvedi recently sought CBI investigation against the Director of IAS Academy.
Sanjiv Chaturvedi has sought a CBI investigation against Mr Srinivas R Katikithala, Director at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, (LBSNAA) Mussourie, into his allegations of 'forgery/ fabrication into the date of birth, educational qualification, postal receipt' regarding one of his central deputation case. The officer addressed the letter to Forest Secretary, in Uttarakhand Government, Mr Vijay Yadav.
Uttarakhand Government had issued permission on September 21st to Sanjiv Chaturvedi to participate in the Common Mid-Career Training programme (CMCT) under the Mission Karmayogi project of the Central Government. This training was for officers who had completed 20 years of service and was scheduled from October 27th to 31st.
In a letter dated 23.09.2022 addressed by Srinivas R Katikithala to participants, he underlined one of the main objectives of this training programme is 'De-siloization' so as to create partnership and collaboration with multiple departments.
However, in his 105-page letter dated October 7th, annexed with various affidavits and notifications, Sanjiv Chaturvedi has alleged regarding Srinivas that, "Government documents mentioned in para 3 above clearly show that statutory notifications of prestigious organizations and departments like University Grant Commission (UGC), Forest Research Institute (FRI) and Postal Department as well as Government of Uttarakhand were simply negated and rubbished, without any sort of reasoning at all, just for certain ulterior considerations, under his own signature and which has led to a very unfortunate and completely avoidable situation wherein two such important departments of the central government are openly at loggerheads in a court of law". Citing this year's independent day address of Prime Minister Narendra Modi against corruption, and 'to cleanse every institute of India', Chaturvedi has requested Uttarakhand Government for a 'fair investigation must be approved and sent by State Government to concerned investigating agency/ CBI'.
He has also expressed his inability to join the CMCT training programme mentioning these, 'very serious legal as well as ethical grounds, involving conflict of interest.
In January 2021, Chaturvedi had filed a writ petition before the High Court of Uttarakhand, seeking, a "criminal investigation by CBI into the criminal offence of forgery, fabrication of Government records and criminal conspiracy by a Committee consisting of four officers including Mr Srinivas R Katikithala, who then happened to be Establishment Officer (EO), in the department of Personnel and Training (DoP&T), Government of India". High Court issued notices to Central Government, Postal Department, and Uttarakhand Government in February 2021. The next hearing of the case is due on January 10th next year.
Sanjiv Chaturvedi is presently posted as Chief Conservator of Forest (Working Plan) under the Government of Uttarakhand and received Ramon Magsaysay Award in the year 2015 for his fight against corruption. Before coming to Uttarakhand cadre, he had worked in Haryana Government and as Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) at AIIMS, Delhi. —ANI