Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 27 (ANI): The Government today told the Supreme Court that they were not aware of the cases pending against controversial Central Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas.

This was stated by Attorney General G E Vahanvati before a bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia, which wanted to know if the issue of sanction and the charge sheet against Thomas was presented before the three-member committee headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh selected him for the assignment.

“It was not before the committee. The material pertaining to the sanction for prosecution under section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was not before the committee,” Vahanvati said.

The response of Attorney General came on a question from the bench whether the material relating to the charge sheet and sanction was presented before the committee.

An NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, and others had challenged Thomas’ appointment as the CVC, quoting the Pamolein import corruption case in which Thomas is an accused.

The Supreme Court had asked the government to answer several questions on the appointment of Thomas as the CVC while he was facing corruption charges.

Earlier, the Government, in its affidavit to the apex court, had defended Thomas’ appointment by saying that impeccable integrity for the CVC’s appointment was not an eligibility criterion.

In an affidavit cleared by Attorney General G E Vahanvati, the government said there was no need for ‘consensus’ of the three-member high-powered committee on Central Vigilance Commissioner’ appointment.

The affidavit said no statutory norms were violated in the appointment of Thomas and the apex court should not decide his suitability for the post. (ANI)