Vigilance Commissioner Suresh N Patel was on Wednesday appointed as the Central Vigilance Commissioner, a year after the post fell vacant.
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.
Newly-appointed Chief Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar, an IIT-Delhi alumni and Haryana cadre Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1972 batch, is a seasoned bureaucrat who has traversed the corridors of power in the capital having served in various key ministries.
Sharad Kumar, former head of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), was named as the new chief of the BCCI's Anti-Corruption Unit.
Ahead of the meeting of the prime minister-chaired high powered panel for selection of Election Commissioners, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has written to the Law Ministry seeking details of short-listed candidates along with their 'dossiers'.
Over 6,900 corruption cases probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation were pending trials in different courts, 361 for more than 20 years, according to the latest annual report of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). Besides, as many as 658 corruption cases were pending CBI investigation, 48 for more than five years.
The post of the chief of the Central Vigilance Commission, the country's anti-corruption watchdog, was lying vacant since June last year after K V Chowdary completed his tenure.
Dominic Xavier highlights the CVC India needs.
"There are not sufficient number of applications received by the government. The extension in the last date has been given to allow more people to apply for the posts," a senior government official said.
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.
Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and some other MPs suspended from Parliament will not be able to attend the meetings of parliamentary committees of which they are a member or chairperson till their suspension is revoked.
CVC K V Chowdary and Vigilance Commissioner T M Bhasin completed their tenure at the anti-graft body on Sunday and Monday respectively.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the validity of two central laws and the corresponding rules that provide for a maximum tenure of five years for the directors of the CBI and Enforcement Directorate.
The chiefs of the central agencies currently have a two-year tenure.
The bench said the petition has relied on a March 2 verdict of the apex court which had ruled that the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and ECs will be done by the President on the recommendation of a committee, comprising the prime minister, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and the CJI, to maintain the "purity of election".
The Opposition on Thursday protested the government's move to extend the tenures of the directors of Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate up to a maximum of five years from the present two years, alleging it was 'arbitrary' and without any logic.
The anti-corruption watchdog posts have been vacant for the last nine months.
With Bharatiya Janata Party demanding annulment of the government's decision to appoint Ranjit Sinha as the new Central Bureau of Investigation director, Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy on Friday said his selection has been done "in a fair manner following the due process".
Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar will hold a high-level meeting on Tuesday to decide on the next Central Bureau of Investigation director.
Verma is understood to have given point-wise refusal to all the allegations levelled by Asthana before the panel comprising Vigilance Commissioners T M Bhasin and Sharad Kumar, they said.
President Pratibha Patil cancelled the appointment of P J Thomas on Monday as Central Vigilance Commissioner, 11 days after the Supreme Court quashed his selection by a high-power committee headed by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
The former central vigilance commissioner, PJ Thomas has remained tightlipped ever since the Supreme Court ruled his appointment as illegal. In this candid interview, Thomas's counsel, Wills Mathews, tells rediff.com that the President's order is unconstitutional and that the Supreme Court order itself was shocking, as it did not have the jurisdiction to pass such an order.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Lokpal Bill will meet in New Delhi on September 7 to decide its procedure to fast track the comprehensive exercise for formulating a strong legislation. It will kick off its work by hearing Central Bureau of Investigation director A P Singh and Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar who have been sent notices to appear before it.
Sheela Bhatt analyses the implications of the Supreme Court's landmark verdict on Thursday, trashing the appointment of PJ Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner
Cancellation of 2G licenses by the Supreme Court clearly revealed a big scam and it was a "collective failure" of the government which "overlooked" warnings given by the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Central Vigilance Commissioner on the issue, Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy said on Thursday. "Everyone had warned, including the CAG and the CVC, but the government overlooked it," Swamy said soon after the Supreme Court cancelled the 122 spectrum licenses.
Central Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas has dragged Dr Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the controversy surrounding the Palmolein import case. In his latest affidavit, Thomas states the PM knew about his pending Palmolein import case since 2008 and the Kerala government's request to withdraw sanction of prosecution.
Irked by delay in response to queries raised by it, the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) may summon officials of Union and State governments in connection with alleged financial irregularities in different Commonwealth Games related projects.
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.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday told the Maharashtra assembly that he, as Union Minister of State for Personnel and Training, was unaware of any negative vigilance report or pending criminal case against P J Thomas before the latter's appointment as the Central Vigilance Commissioner.
The Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed the judgement of the Supreme Court of India quashing the appointment Central Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas. BJP spokeperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said that in view of the order of the honourable Supreme Court, 'the time has come for Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to introspect.'
The Supreme Court reserved its verdict on petitions challenging the appointment of former bureaucrat P J Thomas, who is facing a corruption case in a Kerala court, as Central Vigilance Commissioner.
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 ministries have been asked to give details of any contracts that are valued at more than Rs 2 crore.
"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.
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.
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.
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