Supreme Court quashes appointment of PJ Thomas as CVC

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Abu Sheikh

03 March, 2011

Upon delivering the verdict, the apex court said that the recommendation to appoint Thomas 'does not exist in law' as the committee failed to consider relevant material.

IN A major embarrassment for the UPA government, the Supreme Court on Thursday quashed the appointment of Chief Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas terming the same as illegal. Not only this, the apex court also laid stringent guidelines for the government to follow while making future appointments to this key post.

In a far reaching decision, which would set the tone for the government in the future, the Supreme Court termed the recommendation to appoint Thomas as 'illegal'. The Court said that the high-powered committee did not take into account the chargesheet pending against him in the infamous Palmolein import scam.

While delivering the verdict, the court said that recommendation to appoint Thomas “does not exist in law” as the committee failed to consider relevant material. The court also set aside the contention of union government that empanelment of Thomas as candidate for the post of CVC was based on the vigilance clearance given by then CVC in 2008.

In a scathing remark on the manner in which the appointment was made, the Supreme Court said that neither the committee nor government authorities took into account the issue of institutional integrity.

The court also remarked that the main criteria for appointment to the post of CVC was institutional integrity as well as the personal integrity of the candidate.

The reason for the failure of Thomas to qualify as CVC was that there were pending cases against him as well as several recommendations in official notings calling for disciplinary action against him, the court said.

The Supreme Court also made it clear that appointment to the post of CVC should not be restricted to civil servants only, but people from other fields, who have impeccable integrity should also be considered.

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COMMENTS (1)

How CVC could prefer to issue a vigilance clearence certficate to a goverment officer against whome a charge sheet has been pending, is itself a case of vigilance again.Honble supreme court did not call the file to catch the brain behind it. S.C. has prefered to ignore it and did not accept it as defence for future startagy to be taken by the concerned officer.No body has bothered to recover the revenue loss from the government servant's pocket in the pomolin purchase case.