Health Minister JP Nadda (pictured) previously said he was recusing himself and his ministry from cases involving Vineet Chaudhary

The Union Health Ministry has put a full stop to the investigations into the alleged Rs 7,000 crore AIIMS scam that took place when the United Progressive Alliance II was in power.

The ministry filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court last month, giving a clean chit to a Himachal Pradesh cadre Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer who was accused of corruption during his tenure at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The officer, Vineet Chaudhary, was previously the secretary of health in Himachal Pradesh when current Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda was the state's health minister.

Interestingly, the affidavit came even though JP Nadda issued a memo two years ago distancing his ministry from the matter. Nadda sent the case to the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), which is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India Today has exclusive access to a set of documents related to the scam, which was highlighted by Indian Forest Service's Sanjiv Chaturvedi during his tenure as Chief Vigilance Officer at AIIMS.

THE SCAM

The alleged Rs 7,000 crore scam took place between May 2010 and November 2012, when Vineet Chaudhary was the deputy director of administration at AIIMS, New Delhi.

During Chaudhary's tenure, a Rs 7000-crore project for the infrastructure development at AIIMS and for the setting up of a cancer hospital in Jhajjar, Haryana were undertaken.

In September 2012, BS Anand, the then Superintending Engineer of AIIMS and the head of the Engineering Wing of the Institute, was given an extension beyond his superannuation, against laid-down norms.

AIIMS's vigilance wing investigated Anand's extension and found that Vineet Chaudhary had misled the then Union Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad to ensure that Anand's term was extended. On the basis of this enquiry, BS Anand's services were terminated.

Following this, AIIMS Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjiv Chaturvedi began an investigation into a number of projects initiated by Vineet Chaudhary and BS Anand. Chaturvedi's report red flagged a nexus between the two top officials to misappropriate funds meant for the development of AIIMS.

On the basis of Chaturvedi's report then Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to register a case against Vineet Chaudhary and BS Anand in January 2014.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THE TWO: PANDORA'S BOX

What were Vineet Chaudhary and BS Anand exactly accused of? According to Right To Information (RTI) activist Raj Narain, Chaudhary and Anand colluded and were responsible for the poor quality of construction in the Convergence Block, underground multilevel parking, purchase of Porta cabins under the garb of development work at AIIMS Delhi campus.

'A portion of the underground parking of Institute constructed at the cost of Rs. 50 crore collapsed within 2 months in the first rain itself, Porta cabins were given preference over permanent construction without seeking a mandatory clearance from the Fire Department,' Narain alleges.

Narain suggests that irregularities were found in the April 2012 land purchase that Vineet Chaudhary and BS Anand made in Gurgaon's Iqbalpur village near Jhajjar Campus for AIIMS' Haryana cancer hospital.

'On the basis of the CVO's complaint, the CBI registered case against both officials regarding the said illegal extension (of Anand's tenure), (irregularities in purchase of) properties and corruption in construction work,' Narain adds.

Vineet Chaudhary (left) and BS Anand (right) Click here to Enlarge Vineet Chaudhary (left) and BS Anand (right)

CBI REPORT

The Central Bureau of Investigation in its December 2014 report to the Union Health Ministry, found Vineet Chaudhary guilty of misleading then Union Health Minister Azad to illegally extend BS Anand's tenure. The agency recommended departmental action against Chaudhary.

A Self Contained Note (SCN) of the CBI, accessed by India Today, said it could not probe the corruption allegations against Chaudhary as no supporting documents were provided by the concerned department.

The CBI passed onus of further probe onto AIIMS's Chief Vigilance Officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi.

Raj Narain claims, 'It appears there was considerable pressure on the investigative agency from certain quarters in the power corridor... had the agency completed its probe into the corruption allegations, (Chaudhary and Anand) would have been nailed.'

PARLIAMENTARY PROBE

The Parliamentary Committee on Health & Family Welfare Affairs, which conducted an enquiry into the allegations of corruption at AIIMS, came out with a detailed report in August 2015. The committee castigated the Health Ministry for failing to tackle corruption at the top health institute.

In its report, the committee noted, 'The Ministry is non serious (sic) in tackling corruption issues.' It went on to recommend that the ministry should ensure expeditious investigations into all allegations of corruption at AIIMS and furnish within three months a status report on the investigations into corrupt practices and embezzlement of funds at the premier health institute.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who is arguing the AIIMS corruption matter in the Delhi High Court says, 'The manner in which the Superintending Engineer (Anand) was involved in irregularities and therefore giving extension (that) he was not eligible for shows a clear intent on part of the then Dy Director Vineet Chaudhary to continue with the corrupt nexus.'

He further claims that the CBI was denied access to vital documents and information and so, could not conduct an inquiry into the purchase of Porta cabins.

Bhushan went on to allege that the current Health Minister JP Nadda has attempted to quash the investigations against Chaudhary and Anand and that during Nadda's tenure, all investigations of large-scale corruption at AIIMS have been shut down.

'The minister has an unholy nexus with Vineet Chaudhary who was his secretary in Himachal,' Bhushan alleged.

THE COVER UP

Between May 2014 to June 2014, JP Nadda, then just a Member of Parliament, wrote a number of letters to the then Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan asking that all corruption-related enquiries initiated by the Vigilance Wing at AIIMS be halted.

In August 2014, Dr Harsh Vardhan went ahead an approved major departmental proceedings as punishment against Vineet Chaudhary for the illegal extension granted to BS Anand, as well as other charges of serious misconduct.

The file containing Dr Harsh Vardhan's approval was sent for further approval/first stage advice of the Central Vigilance Commission.

Dr Harsh Vardhan Click here to Enlarge Dr Harsh Vardhan

However, once JP Nadda took over as Union Health Minister in November 2014, the CVC expressed inability to proceed in the matter on technical grounds.

Shaken by a series of media reports on his involvement in the matter, in May 2015 JP Nadda wrote to the secretary of health and family welfare rescuing himself from the cases of alleged corruption and irregularities at AIIMS that involved Vineet Chaudhary.

'I am of the firm view that I must rescue myself and so must the Ministry which I head from investigating and deciding on the case relating to Vineet Chaudhary. Given that DoPT is the cadre controlling authority for IAS officers, it would be appropriate if DoPT is requested to handle the entire matters of Vineet Chaudhary,' Nadda wrote.

However, despite issuing orders to transfer the case to DoPT, the Health Ministry made U-turn after two years, filing an affidavit in the matter in the Delhi High Court on May 2 this year. The affidavit said that the charges of corruption against Vineet Chaudhary during his tenure at AIIMS were not established.

Essentially, the ministry gave him a clean chit.

'PM NEEDS TO LOOK INTO THIS'

Speaking to India Today, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said JP Nadda's writing letters to Harsh Vardhan asking for AIIMS vigilance probes to be halted was a case of intervention.

'This is a clear case of conflict of interest... When the CBI had conducted initial probe why was it not allowed to complete the probe?' Surjewala questioned, adding that PM Modi needs to personally look into the matter.

'All this is happening right under his nose... but nobody is being held accountable... in the high court, affidavits giving clean chits AIIMS administration... what happens to the public money that was lost,' Surjewala questioned.

MINISTER MUM

Health Minister JP Nadda did not respond to multiple requests from India Today seeking comment.

A detailed questionnaire asking for his response to the allegations against him was sent to both his official and personal email ids on June 3 and once again on June 16.

No response was received by India Today at the time of publishing this story. The report will be updated with the minister's comments if and when a reply is received.

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