Plea in HC for CBI inquiry into AIIMS graft

New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS) A petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking a CBI inquiry into various cases of irregularities and corruption in AIIMS raised by then anti-graft officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi.

The public interest litigation (PIL), which is expected to come up for hearing Wednesday, has sought a revival of all cases in which action were initiated by Chaturvedi before he was sacked by then union health minister Harsh Vardhan in August last year from his post as chief vigilance officer of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) in its petition contended that Chaturvedi started initiating action in the corruption cases related to various malpractice including "supply of dubious medicines by a private chemist shop, having influential political nexus, role of middlemen in making fake out patient department (OPD) cards".

The PIL filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan, also a member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), asked Health Minister J.P. Nadda to recuse himself from all cases and from acting as a disciplinary authority, alleging that he "unfettered powers to influence the course of proceedings in all the corruption cases".

Bhushan alleged that Nadda actively participated in dismantling the newly set up vigilance administration and halted all inquiries initiated by Chaturvedi by writing numerous letters to various central ministries from May 2013 to June 2014.

The PIL alleged that "in many cases, investigation has been slowed down", relating to serious irregularities including "wastage in purchase of surgery equipment and other medical items, use of fake propriety certificates in purchases, irregularities in recruitment/appointment including consultants, irregularities in computerisation work, irregularities and breach of confidentiality in exam process, unauthorised foreign visit of senior faculty members in violation of MCI regulations".

Any type of corruption in such a premier institute is likely to have a direct and severe bearing on health and well-being of thousands of patients visiting the institute, the petition stated.

Earlier this month, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to the central government asking it to immediately relieve Chaturvedi, who is now the deputy secretary at AIIMS.

In his two-year stint as anti-graft officer at AIIMS, Chaturvedi had successfully completed more than 150 investigations in which officials were charged and penalised.

He was conducting investigations in several other corruption cases when he was moved out on the orders of the health minister.

Last year, the AAP along with more than 200 AIIMS faculty members, researchers and scientists had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding that Chaturvedi, be reinstated as the chief vigilance officer at the institute.