IFS officer seeks perjury against cabinet secretary for filing false affidavit before HC

Dehradun: Uttarakhand cadre IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi has filed a perjury application for proceedings against cabinet secretary TV Somanathan before the Uttarakhand high court, for filing a false affidavit in a writ petition filed by him in Aug.Chaturvedi has also sought permission to initiate defamation proceedings against the cabinet secretary for "making unsubstantiated defamatory remarks" in accordance with the law. In his perjury application, Chaturvedi claimed that false statements were made by petitioners in the writ petition, stating that he did not raise corruption issues in his representation filed in Jan 2017 before the appellate authority, then Union health minister, nor in a petition filed before the CAT, regarding the downgrading of his appraisal report.

HC has listed the case for hearing on Sept 16.The writ petition was filed jointly by the cabinet secretary and Union health secretary, demanding the quashing of tribunal orders passed in Feb 2023, in which they, along with the CVC and AIIMS-Delhi, were directed to produce certain documents related to an anti-corruption investigation initiated by Chaturvedi during his tenure as CVO of AIIMS. The duo also sought a stay of contempt proceedings initiated by the CAT in May 2025 against them for alleged non-compliance with these orders.

The cabinet secretary stated that Chaturvedi, "instead of addressing the inactions and misconducts committed during his tenure as CVO, justified his stand on the alleged exposure of corruption cases by him, although the cases in the present petition have nothing to do with APAR".Chaturvedi, taking strong exception to these remarks, filed a file noting of then Union health secretary Luv Verma and then CVO of Union health secretary Vishwas Mehta before the HC, which was recorded in May 2014, in which these two topmost officers of the Union health ministry termed the performance of Chaturvedi as "exemplary" and appreciated his "absolute integrity".In this noting, it was observed by these topmost officials of the health ministry that a "record number of penalties have been imposed/disciplinary proceedings initiated by Chaturvedi during the last two years of his functioning as part-time CVO of AIIMS".Quoting extensively from his representation as well as from a petition filed before the CAT in 2017, in which he copiously referred to anti-corruption cases, Chaturvedi claimed that, "it is very unfortunate that such malicious, irresponsible, unsubstantiated and defamatory averments have found a place in the writ petition filed in the name of/on behalf of the cabinet secretary, who happens to be the top serving civil servant of the country".His lawyer, Shashank Pandey, said, "It is very surprising as well as unfortunate that the country's topmost civil servant is making such unfounded insinuations against an honest officer, which is contrary to the own records of the central govt. We have sought perjury proceedings against cabinet secretary, TV Somanathan, and also sought permission to initiate defamation proceedings against him."