Saturday, January 1, 2011

Sh. Sanjiv Chaturvedi- the whistleblower

A very recent news item about him in Times of India contained following:

'Twelve transfers in five years, an illegal suspension order, a fabricated chargesheet, denial of promotion and a spoiled annual confidential report (ACR). That's what forest service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi was awarded by the Haryana government. His 'crime'? He unearthed a multi-crore scam involving senior officials, implemented the Supreme Court's orders preventing a wildlife sanctuary from being destroyed and stopped government money from being spent on private lands of politically influential people.

For three years, the Prime Minister's Office, state information commission, environment ministry, Central Administrative Tribunal and cabinet secretariat tried to stop the relentless harassment of the young officer, but Haryana chief minister B S Hooda's office paid no heed. Ministers, officials in the CM's office and senior bureaucrats continued to hound Chaturvedi at every possible chance...'

It is the last para which should be ringing alarm bells in the ears of those at the helm of affairs in the Govt, if there is one in India today, and the media, if there is a responsible one in India today. What were they doing when a young officer daring to be professionally correct was being harassed and hounded during best period of his life; while his colleagues, keeping their political bosses happy at the cost of public whose servants they are supposed to be, were being rewarded with choice postings and promotions? With this example before them, what line does society expect the budding young officers to adopt? But the real alarm lies in the reported fact that despite best efforts of none less than the PMO and the concerned Ministry, his harassment continued for years. That tells what the PMO and the Ministry are worth and what their efforts were worth. How many times can one say 'shame' to those very people?

It does not give me any pleasure in the fact that this news item again confirms what I have been posting in my blog all along.

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