<p>“The Supreme Court has the power to initiate the proceedings for the removal of CVC only on a reference made by the President. Since there is no reference in the present matter, and I fear whether the SC exercised jurisdiction on an issue in which it was not having the power,” Thomas’s counsel Wills Mathews said.<br /><br /> He said that the review petition would be filed shortly in case the Central government failed to do so.<br /><br />The apex court should not have quashed Thomas’s appointment without allowing him to establish his innocence in this matter or in the palmolein case, Mathews said.<br />The review petition has to be considered by a larger Constitution Bench in the light of Article 146 (3) under which a minimum number of judges to decide any case involving a substantial question of law must be five, he added.<br /><br />The SC had quashed the appointment of Thomas as CVC, holding that the recommendation made by the high-power panel headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not consider the chargesheet against him in a corruption case in Kerala in the 1990s. <br /><br /> The appointment made by a three-member committee was struck down by the apex court terming it as “non-est”(non-existence) in law.<br /><br />It had allowed a contention of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) stating that he could not be appointed to the post in view of the pending criminal case.</p>
<p>“The Supreme Court has the power to initiate the proceedings for the removal of CVC only on a reference made by the President. Since there is no reference in the present matter, and I fear whether the SC exercised jurisdiction on an issue in which it was not having the power,” Thomas’s counsel Wills Mathews said.<br /><br /> He said that the review petition would be filed shortly in case the Central government failed to do so.<br /><br />The apex court should not have quashed Thomas’s appointment without allowing him to establish his innocence in this matter or in the palmolein case, Mathews said.<br />The review petition has to be considered by a larger Constitution Bench in the light of Article 146 (3) under which a minimum number of judges to decide any case involving a substantial question of law must be five, he added.<br /><br />The SC had quashed the appointment of Thomas as CVC, holding that the recommendation made by the high-power panel headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not consider the chargesheet against him in a corruption case in Kerala in the 1990s. <br /><br /> The appointment made by a three-member committee was struck down by the apex court terming it as “non-est”(non-existence) in law.<br /><br />It had allowed a contention of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) stating that he could not be appointed to the post in view of the pending criminal case.</p>
