Govt effectively paralysed Central Vigilance Commission by not filling vacancies: Letter to PM Modi

With the posts of Chairperson and a Commissioner remaining vacant for months, a group of former judges, ex-bureaucrats and activists on Saturday said the government has "effectively paralysed" the Central Vigilance Commission and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately fill the vacant posts.

The post of Chairperson is vacant since June this year while the government has not yet named the replacement for one of the two Commissioners who retired in October last year.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the group said that the Commission has been functioning with only one Commissioner since June, who has been made the acting Chairperson though no provision exists under the law for such an arrangement, after the retirement of the Chairperson.

"Even in the years 2019 and 2020, for nearly 12 months, the commission was without a Chief and an ad-hoc arrangement of appointing an acting Chief was resorted to," said the letter signed by former Delhi High Court Chief Justice A P Shah, former Patna High Court judge Justice Anjana Prakash, former IAS officer Sundar Burra and ex-IPS officer Meeran Borwankar among others.

The others who signed the letter were former Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, lawyer Prashant Bhushan and transparency activist Anjali Bhardwaj of Satark Nagrik Sangathan.

"The purpose of setting up autonomous oversight bodies like the CVC is defeated if appointments are not made in a timely manner. The government has effectively paralysed the Central Vigilance Commission by leaving posts of Commissioners vacant," they said.

They also demanded that the appointments be made in a transparent manner to maintain the integrity of the decision-making process and cited the posting of a circular dated May 4 inviting applications for the post of the Commissioner on the government website while saying no details about the progress on the appointment are available.

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The letter said the Supreme Court, in multiple judgments, has given specific directions to ensure transparency in the process of short-listing, selection and appointment of functionaries of various independent bodies like the CVC and Information Commissions to prevent the appointment process being undermined.

"It is concerning to note that other than the circular of May 2021, inviting applications for the post of the Central Vigilance Commissioner, no further details are available in the public domain. Even the names of the members of the search committee and details of applications received pursuant to the circular are not disclosed. Timely and transparent appointments are key to ensure the proper functioning of institutions," they said.

"Transparency safeguards against arbitrariness in the appointment process and builds public trust. As the Chairperson of the Selection Committee constituted under Section 4 of the CVC Act, we urge you (the Prime Minister) to ensure that vacancies in the CVC are filled without any further delay in a transparent manner," they added.