The Central Information Commissioner has given a show-cause notice to the environment ministry for not disclosing an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report which gave a clean chit to the Magsaysay Award winning bureaucrat-turned-whistleblower Sanjiv Chaturvedi.
The CIC, in its order, has held that though the IB is exempt from sharing information under the Right to Information Act, it is obliged to provide such information under Section 24 of the law when it pertains to corruption and human rights.
The particular section exempts specific intelligence and security agencies from the law in general. But when the issue involves corruption or human rights, the agencies are required to share the data after the approval of the Central Information Commission.
The IB report says, "There appears to be truth in the contention of Shri Sanjiv Chaturvedi regarding alleged harassment meted out to him by Haryana Government. His request for change of cadre from Haryana to Uttarakhand merits consideration." This much was disclosed by the Union government while denying the full report. The environment ministry said it had consulted the IB which had preferred not to disclose the report, claiming the agency was outside the purview of the RTI law.
The CIC noted that the environment ministry had furnished a copy of the "note sheet of the concerned file in which the summary of IB report was made available showing that IB concluded that cases against him (forest officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi) were false." The cases, referred in the CIC order, are those hoisted by the erstwhile Congress government in Haryana.
The IB report was generated during current NDA government's tenure in August 2014 as a profile of the officer's entire career and includes comments on his tenure at AIIMS, where he has had a run in with the Centre. It is not known which authority in the Union government asked for the IB profile report but a copy of it was shared with the environment ministry as well.
Chaturvedi had sought a transfer from Haryana to Uttarakhand alleging harassment by the state government under Congress rule for blowing the lid off several forestry scams. The then UPA government at Centre and the Central Vigilance Commission found the cases valid and recommended CBI investigation, which never took off.
The UPA government rescued him from the state temporarily by bringing him to AIIMS on deputation as the chief vigilance officer. But there he ran in to rough weather again when the NDA came to power at the Centre.
While he unearthed more than a dozen corruption cases at AIIMS - some of which the CBI and the Central Vigilance Commission later affirmed - the present health minister J P Nadda personally asked for his removal from the post of the chief vigilance officer at the premier medical research institute.
At that time, Nadda was a senior official of BJP and a Member of Parliament. However, later he was appointed the health minister. Chaturvedi was divested of his work as vigilance officer and continues to be posted at AIIMS without any specific duty.
In the meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked the Union government to release him on deputation to the Delhi government. This proposal ahs also remained stuck.
Chaturvedi has taken the government to courts in more than half a dozen cases, alleging ill-treatment in breach of law. In two cases, that have been decided, he got a favourable order. In one that he didn't, from the CAT, he has got a stay from the high court. A PIL in the Delhi high court is also being heard on the corruption cases he unearthed and the consequent treatment of the Union government against him.
Chaturvedi asked for the report from the environment ministry under RTI, claiming a threat to his personal security and harassment by the government and wanting to use the report in his defence in the court cases.
The CIC has said, "The applicant could convince the Commission about threat to his personal security as he had exposed the afforestation scam. And because of the same, he is facing false allegations and forced to be on leave without any work being assigned to him, dragged into several cases at different courts where he needs these very important documents."
"No basis was made out for the objection by the IB. The IB, thus can be concluded, has obstructed the furnishing of information. Right to information is a human right, which applicant is trying to use to fight the violation of his other human rights, including right to serve the Government as an IFS officer, which was being denied (to him) since many years," the CIC noted in its order.
It directed the environment ministry "to explain why penal proceedings shall not be initiated for not applying his (the concerned officer) mind to exercise discretion as required under RTI Act, to decide on sharing the copy of the IB report, the gist of which is already is known."
The CIC has also asked the IB to justify itself in another urgently-scheduled hearing "or furnish the certified copy of IB report sought, or withdraw objection to sharing of it, allowing the environment ministry to release a copy of the same."
