Published: Saturday, Sep 4, 2010, 20:31 IST | Updated: Saturday, Sep 4, 2010, 23:46 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_govt-overrules-bjp-in-choice-of-next-chief-vigilance-commissioner_1433540
In a surprise development, the government has decided to appoint telecom secretary PJ Thomas as the new chief vigilance commissioner (CVC), ignoring protests by leader of the opposition Sushma Swaraj. This is the first time in the last 15 years that government and the opposition have differed in the choice of a CVC.
At a high-level meeting on Friday night, the government suggested Thomas’ name. The meeting was presided over by prime minister Manmohan Singh and attended by Union home Minister P Chidambaram, minister of state in the prime minister’s office Prithviraj Chavan, and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj,
After Prithviraj Chavan failed to persuade Sushma Swaraj to agree to Thomas, the government decided to go ahead with the appointment. However, no official confirmation was available till the time of going to press. If appointed, Thomas, a 1973 Kerala cadre Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) officer who has been the telecom secretary since October 1, 2009, will have a term of five years.
The BJP has confirmed that it is opposed to Thomas’ appointment. Swaraj is opposed to Thomas because as Kerala food secretary in the early 1990s, he had faced a probe in the infamous palm oil import scam. Moreover, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the CVC are currently investigating the allocation of 2G spectrum by the telecom ministry.
However, Singh is believed to have overruled Swaraj, pointing out that nothing was found against Thomas in the palm oil case and that he was deputed to the telecom ministry after allegations of the 2G spectrum scam had already come out.
Earlier, the government was contemplating appointing T Nand Kumar, former food secretary, to replace outgoing CVC Pratyush Sinha. But the PM decided to induct him into the advisory council on Jammu and Kashmir and on the high-powered committee on sugar. This necessitated a fresh set of names, which included Bijoy Chatterjee, secretary, chemicals (1973 West Bengal cadre) and Shantanu Counsul (1974 Karnataka cadre).
The key worry now is that with the government and the BJP not seeing eye-to-eye on key appointments, more disputes are likely to crop up. A post that is due to fall vacant soon is that of the chief information commissioner (CIC), with Wajahat Habibullah due to retire.
