K V Chowdary appointed CVC; Vijay Sharma new CIC

Former CBDT chief K V Chowdary and Information Commissioner Vijai Sharma were today appointed Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), posts which have remained vacant for over nine months on which the government drew some flak.

T M Bhasin, Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Bank, has also been appointed as Vigilance Commissioner. Their appointments were approved today by President Pranab Mukherjee, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson said, a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge recommended their names.

With Chowdary's appointment, the government has for the first time broken away with the tradition of appointing an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer as the chief of the anti-corruption watchdog since it was formed in 1964.

The appointments have come after opposition leaders including Congress President Sonia Gandhi had attacked the government over keeping these posts vacant and raised questions whether it was afraid of transparency.

Chowdary, a former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, is working as an Adviser in Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) to check black money. He retired as Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in October, last year.

When reports appeared that Chowdary's name was cleared, senior lawyers Ram Jethmalani and Prashnat Bhushan criticised the government and questioned his credentials for the job.
In the Central Information Commission, the government has followed the convention of appointing the senior most Information Commissioner's as the CIC.