In the line of fire

It is a peculiar case of inaction over complaints of irregularities in Haryana that have been found fit to be investigated by all competent authorities — the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). However, despite clinching evidence to support allegations of illegalities, the Haryana government has done well to protect itself. The charges include serious violations of The Wildlife Protection Act, the Indian Forest Act and relevant Supreme Court orders.

Apparently, the centre has no jurisdiction to intervene in violations of Central Acts in states or to protect whistle blowers even if they belong to the All India Services! This is what minister of state (MoS) in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), V Narayanasamy and the DoPT which functions under him, told the PMO. This DoPT note issued on February 16 this year was cited in the state assembly on March 6 by Haryana forest minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav as the sole defence against a CBI probe ordered by the MoEF into multi-crore forestry scams and violation of forest and wildlife laws in the state.

The same note has also been referred by the Haryana government in a letter to the MoEF arguing against a CBI probe. Interestingly, just a week after the DoPT sent this particular note, marked confidential to the PMO on February 16, 2012, MM Joshi, a serving Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer in Haryana and a prime accused in the scams, filed an RTI application to obtain the note. His surprisingly specific application even mentioned the date on which the note was sent to the PMO.

In a measure of unparalleled efficiency, the DoPT handed Joshi the confidential note, a third party information, in just three working days, without even wasting time to invite objections from the third party, mandatory under Section 11(1) of the RTI Act.

With 12 transfer orders in a five-year-long service, a string of denied postings and promotions and the butt of several frivolous complaints, Sanjiv Chaturvedi is paying the price for being an upright public servant. This 2002-batch IFS officer of the Haryana cadre has already made many influential enemies. He has been suspended, reinstated and even frivolously charge sheeted. Why? Because he has dared to put a finger on his superiors and powerful politicians when their involvement or oversight in cases of blatant irregularities have become evident. Chaturvedi joined the state in September 2005 after completing his training at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehradun, where he was the recipient of two medals for excellence from the President of India.

In April 2007, barely six months into his first posting as divisional forest officer (DFO) in Kurukshetra, Chaturvedi put his foot down on illegal transportation and habitat destruction by influential contractors associated with a canal construction project through the Saraswati Wildlife Sanctuary, one of Haryana’s largest protected areas and home to rare species like the hog deer, blackbuck and wild boar, apart from housing equally rare floral species.

He had First Information Reports (FIRs) registered against the Haryana irrigation department contractors and officials for poaching hog deer, illegal tree felling and habitat destruction and as per procedure, also alerted the state’s chief wildlife warden, RD Jakati.

Jakati, instead of acting against encroachers, overruled Chaturvedi and allowed transportation and construction, all in blatant violation of critical sections of statute books. For instance, section 27 – 29 of Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 permits five activities within the habitat area – tourism, scientific research, photography, investigation into wildlife and lawful trade with a person residing in a wildlife sanctuary where habitat destruction is strictly prohibited. Section 26 of India Forest Act, 1927 (Trespass and Damage to Reserve Forest) and Supreme Court’s order of 2000 and 2005 all strictly prohibit all activities inside a wildlife sanctuary except the five mentioned above. A Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) in its order dated 11.7.2008, found the charges of violation of forest and wildlife statutes true. “The construction works were started without obtaining approval under the Forest Conservation Act, in violation of the provision of the Wildlife Protection Act, and without obtaining prior permission from the Supreme Court,” it noted. Yet, because the land had been denotified, the CEC saw no ground for action against the guilty officers. The Haryana government was asked to pay a fine of Rs 1 crore and let off quite lightly. The denotification of land was prompted by a public interest litigation (PIL) against the herbal park in SC by an NGO. Notices were issued to the Haryana government in April, 2008.

However, in 2009, the state declared the land as protected forest in February 2009 and transferred its management to the Forest Department. Jakati, who was let off on these technical grounds, went on to serve as the Director of IGNFA, Dehradun while Chaturvedi was allegedly slapped with a fabricated charge sheet, which the state government refused to withdraw despite several recommendations.

It took a rare order dated January 2011 by none other than the President of India to revoke the charge sheet against Chaturvedi. In May 2007, about a month after the incident, Chaturvedi was transferred to Fatehabad. Two months later, his ‘misconduct’ in preventing illegal transportation and habitat destruction got him a stern warning and a charge sheet by the state government. Not the one to be deterred easily, Chaturvedi continued with his duties in Fatehabad where he found himself in the midst of another confrontation.

He discovered that the forest department was spending crores buying ‘rare’ trees and medicinal plants for a ‘herbal park’ which was being built on a private land that belonged to Prahlad Singh Gila Khera, said to be close to Haryana’s forest minister Kiran Chaudhary.

Chaturvedi stopped work and began investigating the sanction of funds. On July 12, 2007, Haryana’s top forest official, principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) JK Rawat, wrote: “The honourable forest minister (Chaudhary) was quite annoyed and has asked the undersigned to see that the works resume immediately.” On August 3, 2007, Chaturvedi was suspended from service for his ‘indiscipline’. “You are suspended for acts of omission and commission,” the order said, without citing any specific reason for his suspension. However, his suspension was revoked after the state government failed to send a mandatory formal report on his suspension to the central government within 15 days. After relentless RTIs on behalf of Chaturvedi asking the forest department to furnish notes on his suspension, the department refused saying it would “hamper investigations”. It was then that the state information commission intervened to allow Chaturvedi access to the file noting.

What these file notings reveal is no less shocking. Consider the following: J K Rawat, PCCF Haryana: “It will not be in the best interest of the department to keep the officer at any territorial division where several schemes and projects are being implemented and substantial public dealing takes place.” Kiran Chaudhary, Forest minister: “Keeping in mind his repeated insubordination, the officer may be placed under suspension.” The chief ministers office (CMO) first wrote that Chaturvedi be given a chance to explain but inexplicably did a quick about-turn: “On reconsideration, CM has approved proposal B.”

Chaturvedi’s story does not end here. As if troubled by the revocation of his suspension, the state government got an FIR registered against him for theft of a Kachnar tree in Fatehabad in December, 2007. That too went abegging: the incident which was reported to have occurred in March-April, 2007, happened to fall in a period before Chaturvedi had taken charge at Fatehabad in June, 2007, leaving the police no option but to file a cancellation report.

Post- reinstatement, the officer was kept without any posting for six months and in June, 2008, was allotted a non-cadre post. The officer immediately secured a stay from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) and after a prolonged fight, was finally posted as DFO, Jhajjar. In Jhajjar, which also happens to be the constituency of chief minister Bhupinder Hooda, the officer detected yet another multi-crore plantation scam, where money from the Central government and international agencies was shown to be disbursed in the name of fake plantations.

In the one of the biggest suspension drives, the officer suspended ten field staff including two forest range officers and served termination notices to 40 others. Again, instead of taking any action against those involved, authorities chose to transfer Chaturvedi to Hisar within seven months and at the peak of the investigations.

Chaturvedi, it appears, loves to get into trouble. In Hisar, the officer again detected similar fake plantation scams with clear cut evidence of involvement of senior officers. He also discovered a license fee scam where the license of a large plywood unit, belonging to the relative of an independent MLA supporting the government was thrown away for Rs. 26,000 instead of its market worth of Rs 22 lakhs.

The officer got this unit sealed and canceled its license. Defaulters had to deposit the requisite amount in March, 2010. The same month, the officer was put without posting while he was out for training to USA, only to be shunted as DFO (production) at Hisar, where he currently serves. While Chaturvedi continues his battle, unmindful of the consequences, it is the role of the MoEF and the state government that raises doubts. Experts suggest that forest and wildlife are on the concurrent list of the Constitution and Article 256 empowers the centre to give directions to states for compliance of central acts. Also, the central government, being the appointing authority, has overriding powers over state governments in matters of All India Services, which is on the Union List.

However, the reluctance of the centre to act against a Congress-led government in Haryana is what appears to be at the crux of such inaction. Contacted recently over the matter, Union environment minister Jayanti Natrajan declined to comment though sources in the MoEF said there had been no forward movement in the matter. It is also learnt that the MoEF top brass is livid with the DoPT note that almost renders the green ministry powerless. Though experts and environmental lawyers are unequivocal that mere technicalities shouldn’t come in the way of justice, prima facie, the note is unlikely to stand legal scrutiny, what remains to be seen is the distance the Centre is willing to travel in bringing corrupt officials  and ministers to book. Says Ritwick Dutta, legal adviser, Wildlife Trust of India: “What Sanjiv is doing is a commendable job and many more officers should ideally do what he is doing. It must encourage others to fight the rot in the system.”

Union environment secretary T Chatterjee, who had asked the CVC to identify a central government agency to investigate the scam, had noted that the state government’s submissions against the ministry’s report were only ‘rhetorical’ and without ‘relevant documentary support’. He noted that Chaturvedi had provided ‘clinching evidence’ but considering the state government’s defiance, he had asked CVC to identify an agency. The CVC took its time to write to CBI asking for its advice, which said that the multi-crore forestry scam in Haryana exposed by Sanjiv Chaturvedi is a fit case for it to investigate independently. However, it requires the nod of both the Centre and the state government to investigate a case that many officials have attempted to scuttle over the last five years.

Says the note from CBI to the CVC,” The issues raised by Chaturvedi were analysed by CBI and were found to be worthy of an independent probe. The CBI can probe such matters provided notifications are issued by both the state and central government and the state government first files an FIR.” But that is not to be, for obvious reasons. Points out Naresh Kadyan, wildlife and animal rights activist: “Tainted Indian Forest Service officers are being awarded and honest officers are being harassed. The then principal secretary (forest), P.K.Gupta, noted after examining the comments of PCCF in detail, that whatever was being done by the officer in Fatehabad and Kurukshetra was his duty as DFO and that the charge-sheet should be dropped, but the case was resent deliberately by the forest minister to the PCCF.

It kept going back and forth till Gupta changed his stance. Meanwhile in April, 2009, in response to RTI application of applicant, the office of principal secretary (forest) conceded before the State Information Commission, that charges were inserted wrongly into the charge-sheet. How much more evidence does is needed to get the centre to act. Such acts demoralise honest serving officials.” Confirmation of this has come from official channels as well. A two-member MoEF committee probing the case of embezzlement of funds from a central government scheme and violation of SC orders to build a canal through a wildlife sanctuary, found that the officer had been falsely charge-sheeted and hounded by some senior officials and ministers in the state. The report was sent to the state to act upon but the Haryana government rejected it and instead accused MoEF investigations as being malafide.

When Centre asked for the officer to be released on deputation to Delhi, the state government attacked both officer and central government, stating that Chaturvedi had used the cover of a whistle blower to hide his misconduct and connived with officers of the environment ministry to get his charge-sheet quashed. Says anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal, “Officers like Sanjiv are fighting at great personal risk. There is no independent body to protect officers like him.” These instances prove the state government’s desperation to thwart any inquiry into deliberate acts of corruption by the highest in office. However, a turf war between DoPT, MoEF and Haryana government, the guilty are breathing easier. As for Chaturvedi, he is quite prepared for yet another transfer order.