Uttarakhand HC’s Justice Recuses Himself From Hearing IFS Officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi’s Case

Justice Manoj Tiwari (Judge of Uttarakhand High Court) on Monday has recused himself from hearing the case of Uttarakhand cadre IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi.

An order passed by a bench of Justice Manoj Tiwari and Justice Pankaj Purohit, on February 15 directed the Registry, “not to list the cases of Sanjiv Chaturvedi (Petitioner) before one of us that is Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari”.

However, the order doesn’t mention any reason for recusal.

He is the 9th Judge, including 2 Supreme Court judges, to recuse from hearing cases of Sanjiv Chaturvedi.

The Bench heard the case of deputation of an officer, filed by him before the Circuit Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal, Nainital. The central government had, in turn, filed a transfer Petition, for the transfer of hearing of this case, from Nainital to the Delhi Bench of CAT.

Chaturvedi sought directions from Uttarakhand High Court, for early disposal of his case at Nainital Bench only.

Earlier, in the year 2018, in a similar matter, the Uttarakhand High Court passed orders that service matters of officers to be heard at the Nainital Circuit Bench only and imposed a cost of ₹25,000 on the central government which was upheld by the apex court.

Previously in 2021, the Uttarakhand High Court repeated its earlier position which was again challenged by the central government before the apex court.

In March last year, the apex court referred the matter to a larger bench.

In November 2013, the then Supreme Court Justice Ranjan Gogoi recused himself from hearing a case filed by Chaturvedi regarding a CBI investigation into the role of then Chief Minister of Haryana, Bhupender Singh Hooda and other senior politicians, bureaucrats of State into various corruption cases exposed by him as well as his harassment.

Later on, in August 2016, the then Supreme Court Judge UU Lalit also recused from hearing this case.

In April 2018, a Shimla court judge recused himself from hearing a defamation case filed by Vineet Chowdhary, the then Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh against Sanjiv Chaturvedi.

In March 2019, the then Chairman of Central Administrative Tribunal Delhi, Justice L Narasimhan Reddy, recused himself from hearing cases related to various transfer petitions of Chaturvedi, citing certain ‘unfortunate developments’.

In February 2021, another judge of CAT Delhi, Justice RN Singh also recused himself from hearing a service matter case of Sanjiv Chaturvedi.

In May last year, Justice Rakesh Thapliyal of the Uttarakhand High Court recused himself from hearing cases of Chaturvedi, without mentioning any reason.

In November last year, a Bench of CAT consisting of Manish Garg and Chchabilendra Roul also recused from hearing his cases.