NEW DELHI, Nov 22 � The UPA government faced further embarassment today when the Supreme Court raised questions about the controversial appointment of P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner(CVC) who is an accused in a criminal case, reports PTI.
Thomas, till recently Secretary in the Union Telecom Ministry which is at the centre of the 2G spectrum storm, was appointed CVC on September 7 this year by a three-member panel consisting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia also wryly observed that Thomas as the CVC will himself feel embarrassed due to the pending criminal case against him as in every case the CBI will be dealing with him. Thomas figures in the chargesheet filed in a vigilance court in Kerala in the palmolein import case which is due to come up again soon.
�Without looking into the file, we are concerned that if a person is an accused in a criminal case how will he function as CVC,� it observed after Attorney General G E Vahanvati placed records of documents pertaining to Thomas�s appointment in a sealed cover.
The Court, which is due to hear tomorrow the 2G Spectrum case in connection with Janata party leader Subramanian Swamy�s petition tomorrow, had posed searching questions to the Prime Minister�s Office(PMO) last week on the alleged inaction in responding to the plea for sanction to prosecute Raja when he was the Telecom Minister.
The court�s posers regarding Thomas�s appointment prompted a sharp response from Vahanvati who said if the kind of allegations levelled against him are considered then all judicial appointments would be open to scrutiny. The AG said all procedures have been followed in the case of Thomas� appointment.
The bench said it will go through the file and posted the matter after two weeks.
The two PILs � one filed by an NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation and other by the former CEC�had contended that Thomas was considered for the crucial post despite objection from the Leader of the Opposition who was part of a high-power committee for the appointment of CVC.
The petitioners had contended that Thomas could not be considered as a person of �impeccable integrity� as he was chargesheeted in the Palmoleine import scam when he was Kerala�s Secretary in the state Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies and had secured bail from the local court.
The PILs said he also could not be appointed as CVC on account of �conflict of interest� as till recently he was serving as the Secretary in Telecom Ministry and there was allegation that he was involved in the cover-up of the 2G spectrum scam, which, according to the petitioners, has caused a loss of Rs 70,000 to the state exchequer.
�The Prime Minister and the Home Minister recommended the name of Thomas for selection despite the fact that the Leader of the Opposition objected to his name being selected. So, the Leader of Opposition was forced to record her dissent. Hence, her presence was rendered meaningless in the appointment,� the petition alleged.
It further said, �When the country�s highest court (apex court) and Parliament held that the CVC would be selected by the three-member committee including the Leader of the Opposition, it was patently obvious that the said committee would decide by unanimity or consensus. It was nowhere said that the committee would decide by majority.
