JOIN USSullied CVC refuses to quit
Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) P J Thomas, under mounting pressure to quit the Constitutional post, on Wednesday tried to brazen it out, refusing to resign from the top job, and claimed that it was the government that had appointed him.
Although the Supreme Court made critical remarks against his appointment and questioned his continuance in the post of CVC, to which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) often turns to while proceeding with cases of corruption against public servants, Thomas insisted that he was “continuing” in his job.
“The government has appointed me as CVC. I am continuing as CVC,” he replied when newspersons fired questions, asking him whether he would resign the post following the Supreme Court’s observations.
Thomas sought to take shelter behind the “sub judice” armour, saying that since “whatever proceedings are in the court it is unfair on my part to comment”. According to government sources, a final word on the CVC’s future is yet to come from the Centre which was finding his position increasingly “untenable”.
On its part, the government tried to salvage some of the credibility it lost in the court in the past by telling the Supreme Court Bench hearing the 2G spectrum scam case that Thomas will not monitor the progress of the CBI’s probe in which former Telecom minister A Raja is allegedly involved. Thomas was telecom secretary before he was appointed CVC on October 1, 2009.
Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told the Supreme Court that Thomas had volunteered to recuse himself from “completely dealing” with the 2G probe being conducted by the CBI. Subramanium told the Bench that Thomas had communicated that he would not be part of the investigations into what may turn out to be the biggest political corruption scandal in Indian history.
‘Hand over the tapes’
The Supreme Court has also directed that the original tapes containing the conversation between corporate lobbyist Nira Radia and others pertaining to the 2G spectrum allocation case be handed over to it in a sealed cover.
“We direct that the original records and tapes/ CDs be submitted in a sealed cover after preparing the copies. It will be kept in the lockers of the Supreme Court registry and if required, it will be considered for its use,”the court said, after the government submitted that it had no objection to handing over the complete set of tapes.
Thomas, also accused in a criminal case when he served as Food and Civil Supplies secretary to the Kerala government, has been charged by Opposition parties for not standing up to Raja during the period when he was the topmost bureaucrat in the telecom ministry.
By distancing the CVC from the investigation into the rigged bandwith auction, the government sought to soften the Opposition offensive as well as the strong judicial barbs against Thomas. This, however, had no impact on the demand of the BJP-led Opposition, including the Left parties, for the sacking of Thomas.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP M Venkaiah Naidu wondered if the CVC “was not to monitor CBI case, what is the CVC for?
Charging the government with trying to bail out Thomas, Naidu said: “He (Thomas) is the head of an institution, he is supposed to guide, supervise and monitor the probe and if he is going to do this (recuse himself) then what is he for. This is a way to bail out the government from embarrassment.”
The Opposition paralysed functioning of both Houses of Parliament for the 14th consecutive day over the issue.