Taking note of the complaints in the matter, the Union law ministry has written to the registrar general of Uttarakhand High court to take appropriate action senior central govt standing counsel, Hanu Bhaskar, regarding various irregularities in his appearances before the HC in a writ petition filed by IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi against the then CAT chairman, L Narasimha Reddy.
The complaint involves the counsel's conduct in a case related to the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which stemmed from a petition filed in December 2020, and the Ministry is seeking an investigation into the matter. As such, the Ministry of Law and Justice has sought appropriate action regarding allegations of "fake appearance" by a Central Government counsel at the Uttarakhand High Court .
The complaints raised by Uttarakhand cadre IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi against Hanu Bhaskar, senior central government standing counsel mention various irregularities in his appearances before Uttarakhand High Court in a Writ Petition filed by Chaturvedi against the then CAT Chairman L. Narisma Reddy.The directions issued on Aug 28 to Registrar General also encloses a communication dated 07.07.2025 from Central Vigilance Commission to Law Ministry, which had asked Law Ministry for appropriate action on Chaturvedi’s complaint.
In another parallel development, Law Ministry has also sent a detailed office memorandum to Department Of Personnel and Training(DoPT) on Aug 25 to inquire into multiple issues raised by Chaturvedi. Importantly, the issue raised by Chaturvedi and which finds separate mention in Office Memorandum sent by Law Ministry is ‘Representation by Hanu Bhaskar of the then Chairman (CAT) in a Writ Petition before High Court of Uttarakhand while at the same time he was also appearing before the same chairman (CAT) in Delhi as panel counsel for Union of India’.
In his complaint Chaturvedi had alleged that in a Writ Petition filed before Uttarakhand High Court by him in Dec 2020 while Hanu Bhaskar was appearing as Counsel of then CAT chairman before Uttarakhand High Court, at the same time he was also appearing on a regular basis before same Chairman CAT as counsel of Central Government and various Central Government organizations which as per his complaint was ‘most brazen example of judicial impropriety’.
Another issue flagged by Ministry of Law and justice is ‘Sanction of Rs 50,000/- for the hearing on 23.03.2021 which allegedly did not occur in WPSBC-407/2020 along with payment of Rs 40,910/- for taxi’, to Hanu Bhaskar. In his complaint Chaturvedi had shown by placing the records of Writ Petition hearing before High Court that no hearing had taken place on 23.03.2021, in that Writ Petition.
Communication from law ministry has also mentioned sanction of Rs 156758 to Hanu Bhaskar by then Chairman CAT in that Writ Petition for his appearance before High Court of Uttarakhand without approval of Department of Legal Affairs and has mentioned allegation of Chaturvedi of these payments to be many times higher than the rate approved by Department of Legal Affairs.
The controversy stems from a petition filed by Chaturevdi before Uttarakhand High Court in Dec 2020 against an order passed by then chairman CAT L. Narisma Reddy by which hearing of his case was transferred from Nanital bench of CAT to Delhi bench. Uttarakhand High Court had set aside these orders in Oct 2021 by saying that ‘Tribunal has failed to consider the hardship caused to the Petitioner if hearing is transferred from Nanital to Delhi bench’ as this would ‘entail financial expenditure’ and also ‘adversely affect physical health and psychological 'makeup’ of Chaturvedi.
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