Uttarakhand: A whistleblower and a procession of reluctant judges

Unprecedented!’ That’s retired Supreme Court judge Justice Madan Lokur’s reaction to 16 judges having recused themselves from hearing cases related to Magsaysay Award-winning Indian Forest Service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi. Two Supreme Court judges, four high court justices, two lower court judges and eight members of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) have done this, without citing any reason.

Lokur believes the cases need to be transferred to Punjab or Delhi or indeed any other high court but Uttarakhand’s. “If this drags on and no judge in the country wants to handle the cases, how can anyone get justice?” he asks. One wonders, what makes these cases too hot to handle?

Lawyers who have followed the trail say the first case goes back to 2010 when Chaturvedi directly approached the Supreme Court, alleging he was being harassed by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the then chief minister of Haryana, and Kiran Chaudhary, the state forest minister.

The latest is as recent as 8 October, when Justice Alok Verma, a senior judge of the Uttarakhand High Court (UHC), recused himself from a contempt case filed by Chaturvedi, challenging the ‘wilful disobedience’ of a stay order issued by high court members and the CAT registry.

Following the recusal, it was rumoured that Chaturvedi would be convicted by CAT. Fortunately for him, UHC chief justice G. Narendar intervened and the matter was stayed till 30 October.

Verma’s is the sixth judicial recusal on Chaturvedi-related cases this year. In February, two CAT judges, Harvinder Oberai and B. Anand, withdrew from a key case concerning the alleged downgrading of Chaturvedi’s Annual Performance Report by the then Union health minister J.P. Nadda. In April, additional chief judicial magistrate Neha Kushwaha recused herself.

Lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan is aghast: “I cannot comment on the cases because I do not know the details. What I do know is that Chaturvedi is a senior Forest Service officer who is bold enough to take on the establishment.”

Leading criminal lawyer Rajat Katyal points out that judges usually recuse themselves due to personal ties or prior involvement, but “in Chaturvedi’s case, there seems to be no bias”. Another lawyer added anonymously, “When so many senior officials step aside, it raises questions about the path to final adjudication.”

Within the Forest Service, Chaturvedi is admired by some and dismissed by others as brash and reckless. All agree that he is unafraid to expose high-level scams or question why the appointments committee, led by Prime Minister Modi and home minister Amit Shah, denied his empanelment as joint secretary. His challenge to the decision is still pending before the CAT.

Former principal chief conservator of forests Prakriti Srivastava recalls facing similar retaliation for exposing corruption as DIG (Wildlife) at the Centre. “I was sidelined for three months without a portfolio. Unlike Chaturvedi, I did not go to court. When I returned to my cadre, six juniors were promoted over me. No one within the service supports you, even when they know you are right,” she says.

This is the fate of those who refuse to toe the line. Retired conservator of forests and a senior colleague from the Haryana cadre Dr R.P. Balwan knows what it is like to be victimised by the powerful politician–bureaucrat nexus. “When one tries to save forests,” he says, “one is bound to come into conflict with both corrupt foresters and corrupt politicians. This is inevitable.” Himself a maverick, Balwan has also written a book revealingly titled Corruption in Bureaucracy: Inside Stories.

Balwan speaks of Chaturvedi with a sense of pride: “He is the only officer who challenged Modi’s highly questionable decision to allow lateral entry to outsiders for senior posts. With top positions going to handpicked outsiders, experienced serving officers cannot avail of promotions.”

While Chaturvedi is not the first civil servant to run afoul of the bureaucracy, he is probably one of the most talked about for fearlessly issuing show cause notices to senior bureaucrats and politicians including the cabinet secretary, CBI and IB officials. Will his anti-corruption crusade succeed? That’s anybody’s guess.

People march for better healthcare

Retired army jawan Bhuvan Kathayat is a man with a mission: to highlight the abysmal state of healthcare in Uttarakhand with a 300-km padayatra from Almora district’s Chaukhutia village to Dehradun via the summer capital Garsain.

“We march not just for Chaukhutia but for the public at large, who are suffering because medical care is either absent or inaccessible. This journey is a wake-up call to ensure everyone’s right to healthcare,” he said on 24 October, before setting out on the 10-day march.

Joined by villagers from across the region, the padayatra had already picked up momentum at the time of writing, with participants from Chamoli and Haldwani swelling their numbers.

The agitation for better healthcare services actually began on 2 October, when hundreds of residents from Chaukhutia went on a hunger strike outside the local community centre (LCC), demanding installation of modern diagnostic equipment as well as the appointment of a gynaecologist and a pediatrician. Several incensed villagers spent the entire day standing in the Ramganga river as a mark of protest.

A nervous chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami quickly ordered the transfer of two doctors — paediatrician Manish Pant and gynaecologist Kritika Bhandari — from Almora District Hospital to the Chaukhutia LCC.

However, the order was cancelled at the last minute to avoid worsening Almora’s already critical shortage of doctors. State health secretary Dr R. Rajesh Kumar said arrangements were being made to appoint a new paediatrician and gynaecologist exclusively for Chaukhutia. Villagers greeted the announcement with scepticism, having heard similar promises before.

Matters came to a head on 25 October, when 22-year-old Raveena Kaithait, a resident of gram panchayat Saem Basar, died due to post-delivery complications. She was admitted to the community health centre (CHC) at Pilkhi, where she delivered a baby on the morning of 23 October. Later that night, she developed shortness of breath and was referred to the Srinagar Base Hospital in Pauri Garhwal district.

On 24 October, her family rushed her there, but it was too late. Raveena died the next day from cardio-pulmonary failure. Hospital superintendent Dr Rakesh Rawat explained that she had a pre-existent medical condition and had undergone heart surgery eight years ago.

Protesters are demanding that Pilkhi CHC be upgraded to a sub-district unit to prevent patients like Raveena from being referred elsewhere in emergencies. One grieving resident recalled losing 28-year-old Anisha Rawat in September. She had been referred from Pilkhi to Dehradun and died en route.

“Most residents are poor and in no position to shuttle their relatives from one place to another. Ambulances are not available. Even when they are, the costs are exorbitant. Villagers are left to their own devices to transport the patient,” said Deepak Rawat. One of the protesters at Pilkhi, he has joined the padyatris marching to Dehradun. Once they get there, the plan is to demonstrate outside the official residences of the chief health secretary and chief minister Dhami.

Will it result in action? One lives in hope.