R Srikumar, J M Garg appointed as Commissioners in CVC

Newly-appointed Central Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas administered oath of office to both Srikumar and Garg at its office here. Their names were cleared by a selection committee chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and comprising Home Minister P Chidambaram and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj.

During his stint in police services, Srikumar, a retired IPS officer of 1973 batch (Karnataka cadre) was part of a special investigation team to probe Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.

Garg's tenure as Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank has ended on July 31, 2010. The post of Commissioners in the anti-corruption watchdog was lying vacant for about eight months.

Yesterday, Thomas was sworn-in as the new CVC amid BJP's boycott of the ceremony and complaint to the President over the manner in which the appointment of the officer with an alleged "blemished record" was made to the post.

59-year-old Thomas, the Telecom Secretary till now, was administered the oath of office for a four-year tenure. BJP has alleged that the government wanted to appoint Thomas as the CVC head to "cover-up" the alleged scam in allocation of 2G spectrum in which accusations have been levelled against Telecom Minister A Raja.

The main opposition has also charged that the appointment was aimed at shielding those allegedly involved in financial irregularities related to the Commonwealth Games, which the CVC has detected.