The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday cornered the government for 'defending' Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas in the Supreme Court, asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi as to what was the 'compulsion' to defend the 'tainted' official and attack the upright comptroller and auditor general.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday slammed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre for defending the appointment of P J Thomas as the Central Vigilance Commissioner.
The Centre on Monday strongly defended the appointment of controversial bureaucrat P J Thomas as the central vigilance commissioner, saying he was an 'outstanding officer' with 'impeccable integrity'. In an affidavit in the Supreme Court cleared by Attorney General G E Vahanvati, the government also said there was no need for 'consensus' of the three-member high powered committee on CVC's appointment.
The Lokpal Bill is set to be put on the fast-track with the Parliamentary panel on Law taking it for examination from Friday by hearing views of Aruna Roy and Jaiprakash Narayan who have presented their own drafts.
"The CVC is a very important Constitutional position and naturally the position should be held by a person who is absolutely above board. The government is seized of the matter and will deal accordingly," senior NCP leader and Union minister Praful Patel told reporters.
Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas on Tuesday withdrew from the Delhi high court his plea for direction to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to decide his representation against the Supreme Court order sacking him. During the hearing, the counsel for Thomas tried to clarify the position saying he did not want to challenge the Supreme Court order before the high court.
Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar was on Saturday unanimously chosen the next chief vigilance commissioner, four months after the Supreme Court had quashed the appointment of P J Thomas to the post.
Four months after the Supreme Court quashed the appointment of P J Thomas, a high-level committee chaired by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Saturday finalised the name for the post of chief vigilance commissioner.
The decision on Rahul Gandhi's appointment as the Leader of Opposition was made after a meeting of the floor leaders of the INDIA bloc at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's residence.
Senior Indian Administrative Service officer P J Thomas was on Tuesday sworn in as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner amid a boycott by main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been objecting to his appointment to the post in view of his alleged tainted background.
Aggrieved by being referred as "tainted" and being listed in the category of "men who shamed India" by the media, former Central Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas has approached the Supreme Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged distortion in the reporting of his case.
The blame game over the Central Vigilance Commissioner appointment fiasco refused to die down with the surfacing of a letter on Thursday that the Kerala government wrote to the Centre in 2006 saying it wanted to go ahead with the graft case against P J Thomas.
Refusing to let Prime Minister Manmohan Singh off the hook over the appointment of P J Thomas as the central vigilance commissioner, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday asked Dr Singh if he would fix the responsibility for the error."Since the prime minister has very graciously accepted the error of judgment, would he now appreciate that responsibility and accountability co-exist? Does the prime minister now intend to fix accountability within the government," he asked.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday virtually blamed former Minister of State (personnel) Prithviraj Chavan for the fiasco involving appointment of P J Thomas as central vigilance commissioner, saying the note forwarded by him for the selection committee did not have information about corruption case against Thomas.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday termed as 'error of judgement' the appointment of P J Thomas as Chief Vigilance Commissioner and told the Lok Sabha that he accepted 'full responsibility' for it.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj on Saturday sought to downplay the divergent views expressed by her and the party after Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh owned responsibility for the central vigilance commissioner fiasco, saying there was "no difference" of opinion and blamed limitations of words in twitter for it.
A demand for a statement from Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling quashing the appointment of central vigilance commissioner, disrupted proceedings in the Lok Sabha on Friday. Immediately after the Question Hour, Left members as also the Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav raised the matter vociferously, leading to adjournment of the House for 45 minutes.
Contradicting Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Central Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas's counsel Wills Mathews said that Thomas has not resigned from his post. "It is incorrect. Thomas has not resigned."Citing the provisions in the CVC Act, Mathews said he can be removed only by the President or alternatively he can resign.
The Left Front on Thursday said the Supreme Court's quashing of the appointment of P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner was 'another serious blow' to the UPA government which is facing major corruption cases. "I think what the court said today only vindicates the position our party has taken at the outset. Now the government, which is facing major corruption charges, has to answer why they have been taking such decisions," said CPM leader Sitaram Yechury.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said he respected the Supreme Court verdict on the quashing of the appointment of P J Thomas as the Central Vigilance Commissioner.
Dealing a big blow to the United Progressive Alliance government, the Supreme Court on Thursday quashed the appointment of P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner. The apex court held that the recommendation made by the high-powered panel -- headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- did not consider the relevant material and therefore its advice "does not exist in law".
Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas resigned from his post on Thursday following the Supreme Court verdict which quashed the appointment of the former bureaucrat.
Sources said government headhunters Public Enterprise Selection Board had on September 29 last year, named Butola as its most preferred choice to head the nation's largest oil firm.
Embattled CVC P J Thomas told the Supreme Court that his appointment as Central Vigilance Commissioner cannot be subject to judicial review and that it does not not get vitiated merely because of chargesheet pending against him in a corruption case.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday accused Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj of making thoughtless allegations and "tying herself in knots" by levelling the charge that he had misled the panel which selected P V Thomas as the Central Vigilance Commissioner.
The selection committee meeting to chose Central Vigilance Commissioner in September last year did discuss the issue of Palmolein case against P J Thomas, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday but parried a question whether a "chargesheeted" person should have been appointed.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Friday supported his colleague Sushma Swaraj's stand against the appointment of Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas, saying he could not have been chosen for the post as he had cases pending against him. "This controversy started even when I was the Leader of the Opposition," he said.
Granting the interim relief to Shankar currently lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison, a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said it would not decide the case on merits as the Madras high court is seized of the matter.
The coming assembly and Lok Sabha elections -- the choice of candidates, the campaign strategies and the negotiations with other Opposition parties --0 represent the real test for Mallikarjun Kharge.
Central Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas may quit the post in the wake of stinging observations from the Supreme Court on his capacity to supervise the CBI probe into the 2G spectrum scam.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday virtually questioned the tenability of Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas supervising the Central Bureau of Investigation's probe into the 2G spectrum scandal as he himself was Telecom Seceratary at the relevant point of time.
2G Scam: SC ticks off CBI for not questioning Raja
The government placed the file relating to the appointment of P J Thomas as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner in the Supreme Court, which questioned as to how he would function in the post in view of a pending criminal case against him.
Corruption is all-pervasive in Indian society and it's a surprise that the Union law minster does not see it that way, writes Mahesh Vijapurkar.
P J Thomas, secretary in the Ministry of Telecommunications, is all set to be appointed as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Home Minister P Chidambaram will meet on Monday to decide who will become the next central vigilance commissioner. According to the Supreme Court's instructions, the PM, home minister and the leader of Opposition has to finalise the CVC together. On Thursday, Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan held an informal meeting with BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.
The protest against the alleged sexual abuse of two girls at a school in Badlapur town of Maharashtra's Thane district turned violent on Tuesday as the angry agitators vandalised the school and also indulged in stone-pelting at the local railway station during the 'rail blockade', police said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has approved the new guidelines for the appointment of Central Vigilance Commissioner, following which the government on Wednesday set the ball rolling for choosing a head of the top anti-corruption watchdog after the removal of controversial P J Thomas.The action came a month after the quashing of the appointment of Thomas as CVC by the Supreme Court as he is facing a corruption case.
Former central vigilance commissioner P J Thomas has decided to move the Supreme Court seeking review by a Constitution bench of its March 3 judgment quashing his appointment, claiming that judiciary has no right to decide his eligibility for the post without prior reference from the President.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari, on Wednesday went against his colleague Sushma Swaraj, over the issue of the appointment of chief vigilance commissioner P J Thomas. Swaraj had earlier said that after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepted the blame for the appointment after the apex court struck it down, the issue was now over and it was time to move on.
