Supreme Court judges among 17 to recuse from cases involving Uttarakhand IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi

Seventeen judicial officers — two Supreme Court judges, four judges of Uttarakhand high court, nine Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) judges and two judges from the district judiciary — have recused themselves from cases involving Uttarakhand-cadre Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi over the years.

The latest is CAT Delhi bench judge Rajveer Singh Verma, who recused himself on September 21 from hearing Chaturvedi’s petition challenging a November 2021 Uttarakhand government order related to the Appraisal Report Channel of IFS officers.

The September 21 order stated: “After hearing the matter for some time, Hon’ble Mr. Rajveer Singh Verma, Member (J), recuses himself from hearing this matter. The Registry is directed to list the matter before the appropriate Bench and notify the same.”

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The latest recusal comes after several judges and judicial officers withdrew from cases involving Chaturvedi over the years, citing different circumstances.

In September-October 2025, Justice Alok Verma and Justice Ravindra Maithani of the Uttarakhand high court recused themselves from hearing a contempt case filed by Chaturvedi against CAT members and the Registry over alleged wilful disobedience of a high court stay order.

In February 2024, Justice Manoj Tiwari recused himself from Chaturvedi’s case seeking documents from the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) concerning his central deputation.

The recusal of judicial officers in Chaturvedi’s cases dates back to November 2013, when then Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjan Gogoi recused himself from hearing a case seeking a CBI investigation into allegations of corruption and harassment raised by Chaturvedi.

In August 2016, then Supreme Court judge Justice UU Lalit also recused himself from the case.