U'khand HC issues contempt notice to CAT chairman for wilful disobedience

Nainital: In an unprecedented development, the Uttarakhand High Court has issued contempt notice to Justice Narasimha Reddy, the chairman of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), New Delhi.

The notice has been issued on February 20, on the basis of a contempt petition moved by Uttarakhand-cadre Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi.

The notice has given four weeks' time to Justice Reddy to show why contempt proceedings be not drawn against him, according to the court's order.

Next hearing of the case has been fixed on March 20, it said.

The development comes following a legal and administrative battle between the central government and Chaturvedi over adverse entries made in his appraisal report of 2015-16 by All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, where Chaturvedi worked as Chief Vigilance Officer between 2012 and 2016.

Chaturvedi had in June 2017 moved the high court seeking quashing of the appraisal report in which adverse entries were made.