Thaindian News

New Delhi, Mar 3 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Thursday turned down the appointment of former bureaucrat PJ Thomas, who is facing a corruption case in a Kerala court, as Central Vigilance Commissioner.

The apex court, which had on February 10 reserved its on petitions challenging the appointment of Thomas, said the appointment was illegal and that he must go. The apex court further said criminal case should have been considered.

Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj after the Supreme Court judgement said that the dignity of the office of the Central Vigilance Commission has been restored, and welcomed the verdict.

Earlier, a bench of Chief Justice S H Kapadia reserved their orders after hearing arguments from various sides, including those by Prashant Bhushan, counsel for petitioner Centre for Public Interest Litigation, Thomas’s counsel KK Venugopal and Attorney General GE Vahanvati.

During the hearing, the bench wanted to know if the Leader of the Opposition can have a veto power in the process of CVC’s appointment.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan pointed out that the purpose of having the Leader of Opposition on the panel was to ensure that the government does not steamroll the selection process.

During the hearing, senior advocate Venugopal argued that irrespective of placement of all materials before the panel, the process of appointment will not be vitiated.

He said the consultation process is independent of the material placed before the panel.

He also questioned the court for holding a judicial review over the issue of appointee’s integrity saying whether the panel looked into it or not is not for the court to enquire into.

Venugopal said the panel functions as a recommending body on the basis of which the President appoints a person as the CVC and nobody knows what materials are considered.

He said the CVC’s appointment is not based on the recommendation by the Council of ministers and that an independent decision is taken by the panel.

He also said the President is the appointing authority and there was no challenge to this aspect.

He said Thomas’s appointment was justified as a Kerala Government order had clearly said that no case was made out against him in the Palmolein import case, nor was he under suspension and was appointed as the state government’s chief secretary.

Venugopal followed the government’s line of argument that there was also no challenge to the CVC clearance given to him on the basis of which he was appointed as secretary in the Central government.

Centre for Public Interest Litigation, an NGO and others had earlier challenged Thomas’s appointment as the CVC, quoting the Palmolein import corruption case in which Thomas is an accused. (ANI)