HC notice on IFS officer’s plea seeking perjury action against Haryana officials

STATE HAD ARGUED THAT ITS OFFICIALS WERE INDICTED BY CENTRE’S PROBE WITHOUT GIVING THEM ANY OPPORTUNITY OF HEARING

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday sought response from the Haryana government on a plea by Ramon Magsaysay awardee and Indian Forest Service officer (IFS), Sanjiv Chaturvedi, seeking perjury proceedings against the officials involved in initiating a petition challenging a Central government’s decision.

Chaturvedi has filed the plea in the petition wherein state government in 2014 had challenged the decision of the environment and forest ministry stating that Centre illegally constituted a committee that had given clean chit to Chaturvedi and indicted the state government officials in a forest department scam.

Haryana had argued that its officials were indicted by Centre’s probe without giving them

any opportunity of hearing. The probe pertains to scams in Haryana forest department, when Chaturvedi was serving in the state, before moving on to central deputation. Chaturvedi has also named former Congress chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, then ministers Kiran Choudhry and Capt Ajay Yadav,

and IAS officer Keshni Anand Arora in application, alleging “he was made to suffer tremendous stress, loss, energy, time and money for defending and exposing scams and misdeeds of corrupt officers and politicians”.

Meanwhile, the HC deferred hearing on another plea filed in the same matter by a UP cadre IPS officer Amitabh Thakur (now Lucknow IGP), who has also requested the court to include him as party in the dispute stating that issue had vital implication for All-India services (AIS) officers.

“That it is a well-known fact that many honest and sincere AIS officers have suffered tremendously at the hands of unscrupulous politicians because of their refusal to follow illegal orders and departmental chargesheets, suspension and other departmental proceedings,” he has stated.