Haryana forest scam: IFS officer seeks CBI probe
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An Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, who had landed in trouble after blowing the whistle on alleged forest scam in Haryana, has sought a CBI probe into his charges of irregularities involving some politicians and officers in the state as well as in the environment ministry.
In a letter to Union environment secretary T. Chatterji, IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi — who was suspended before being reinstated by a Presidential order earlier in 2011, requested to "refer the case to CBI, without any further delay, as per recommendation of the enquiry committee".
The letter was sent after Haryana rejected the findings of the Centre-appointed enquiry committee and asked the environment ministry to have a fresh look at the allegation levelled by Chaturvedi against some very important functionaries in the state government.
A two-member panel set up by the Union ministry of environment and forests to probe irregularities and violations of the Forest Act in Haryana had recommended a CBI probe into the matter and indicted the CMO, Cabinet minister Kiran Chaudhary and some senior state government officers for the "harassment" of Chaturvedi.
The IFS officer in the letter has alleged he still continued to be harassed by "the powerful vested interests" whose "misdeeds" he had exposed.
"Even after Central government's twice intervention in the past three years, on the same issues, the harassment/ personal attack by the concerned authorities of the state government is going unabated," Chaturvedi said.
He alleged there was an attempt to implicate him in fresh false police or departmental cases.
"My life/liberty/career is continuously under severe threats from those powerful vested interests whose misdeeds have been exposed by me," the letter stated.
Officials in the ministry confirmed that they have received Chaturvedi's letter.
The two-member panel, headed by inspector general of forests A.K. Shrivastava and AIG Shally Ranjan, had found that harassment of Chaturvedi included frequent transfers — 12 in five years, suspension and fabricated charge sheet for exposing large-scale irregularities in various projects.
The charge sheet against the whistle blower was revoked by President Pratibha Patil on January 19 based on the panel's report against senior politicians and more than half-a-dozen bureaucrats.
In his letter, Chaturvedi also alleged that those persons who were found guilty of various financial irregularities and violation of Supreme Court order have been promoted and rewarded by both the centre and the state governments.
Even one such officer was promoted to the apex scale of Rs 80,000, which is the highest scale for any public servant, while the enquiry committee had recommended initiation of disciplinary proceedings against the officer, the letter said.
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