CAT Chairman recuses himself from hearing plea in IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi's case

The chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) L Narasimha Reddy recused himself from hearing a petition filed by Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi challenging the civil servants' empanelment process.

Chaturvedi, who is working as the Chief Conservator of Forest at Haldw district of Uttarakhand, had filed a case before the tribunal's Nainital bench in February last year, challenging the Centre's 360-degree appraisal system for officers of the level of joint secretary and above and the recruitment of private sector specialists to government posts through lateral entry.

"Post the matter before court number 2 on February 1," a bench comprising CAT Chairman and another administration member Mohammad Jamshed said in its order dated January 22.

The CAT Chairman had last month allowed a petition by the Centre seeking transfer of Chaturvedi's case from the tribunal's Nainital bench to Delhi, saying "the matters of this nature have their own impact on the very functioning of the central government."

Commenting on the order, Chaturvedi's counsel and senior advocate Sudershan Goel said the Narasimha Reddy ought not to have passed the order of transfer when he is in one-to-one litigation with the applicant.

"Narasimha Reddy has recused himself from hearing this matter and transferred this case to another court -- court number 2," he added.

In March 2019, the CAT chief had recused himself from hearing Chaturvedi's three other petitions citing some "unfortunate developments" and other reasons.

The Uttarakhand High Court had last month issued notices to the Centre, the CAT chairman and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), among others, seeking their responses on Chaturvedi's plea.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice Alok Kumar Verma earlier issued a notice on the plea against a CAT order dated December 4, 2020, transferring his case challenging the present system of empanelment at the level of joint secretary in the Central government, from the Nainital bench of CAT to principal bench in Delhi.

( With inputs from ANI )