The Chief Justice of India, Justice DY Chandrachud, has formed a three-judge bench to preside over the case of Uttarakhand Cadre IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi.
This decision follows a referral made by a two-judge Bench in March last year due to discrepancies with a previous two-judge Bench. The new Bench is comprised of Justice Abhay S Oka, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Justice Augustine George Masih.
Chaturvedi seeks a hearing on the action taken by the PM’s office (PMO) in response to corruption complaints involving Union ministers and the amount of black money found from abroad.
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The bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varala issued the orders, stating, “Leave granted” on July 29, 2024.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta represented the PMO during the hearing.
Chaturvedi’s petition also included details on the PMO’s response to a complaint he filed in September 2014 against JP Nadda, who later became the Union health and family welfare minister.
A two judges Division Bench consisting of Justice MR Shah and Justice Nagrathna had directed the registry to place “the matter before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate orders at the earliest so that the aforesaid issue is resolved at the earliest” on the “issue of territorial jurisdiction of the concerned High Court to decide a challenge to an order passed by the Chairman, CAT, Principal Bench, New Delhi.”
The order passed by the Division Bench also said that involvement affects many employees and is of public importance
The Division Bench reserved judgment on the Special Leave Petition filed by the Central Government in this matter in April 2022 and delivered the final judgement after 11 months in March 2023.
The matter was referred in view of difference with an earlier judgement of another Division Bench of the Supreme Court, consisting of Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice CT Ravikumar, in the case of the then Chief Secretary of West Bengal Alpan Bandyopadhyay, which had delivered its judgement in January 2023, saying that, challenge to an order passed by the Chairman, CAT, Principal Bench, New Delhi, could have been heard by Delhi High Court only and not by Kolkata High Court. Supreme Court had set aside orders passed by the Kolkata High Court in favour of Alpan Bandyopadhyay.
In this matter, a Special Leave Petition was filed by the Central Government against an order passed by the High Court of Uttarakhand in October 2021, which the orders of the Chairman, Central Administrative Tribunal, passed in December 2020, transferring the hearing of the case of IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi, were set aside by the High Court.
In February 2020, Sanjiv Chaturvedi lodged a Petition at the Nainital Bench of CAT to contest the existing empanelment system at the Joint Secretary level in the Central Government and the lateral entry system at the Joint Secretary level.
However, in December 2020, the former Chairman of CAT, at the request of the Central Government, issued an order to relocate the hearing of this case to the Delhi Bench of CAT, citing the issue's 'national importance'.
Sanjiv Chaturvedi contested this order in the same month before the Nainital High Court, which delivered the final verdict in October 2021.
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