P.J. Thomas sworn-in new CVC, BJP stays away
By IANSTuesday, September 7, 2010
NEW DELHI - Former telecom secretary P.J. Thomas was Tuesday appointed the new Chief Vigilance Commissioner at a ceremony boycotted by the BJP, which had objected to his selection.
President Pratibha Patil administered the oath of office to the 1973 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Kerala cadre at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The swearing-in ceremony was boycotted by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“At a ceremony held today at Rashtrapati Bhavan, P.J. Thomas was sworn in as the CVC,” said a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement here.
Thomas succeeded Pratyush Sinha, a 1969 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, who demitted office Monday after a four-year tenure as the CVC.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily, Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar were among those present at the ceremony.
The BJP had raised objections about Thomas’ appointment as head of the anti-corruption watchdog, saying that he had faced probe on charges of corruption in the Kerala palm oil import scam and was thus not fit to oversee investigations into the 2G allocation scam.
However, Chidambaram said the bureaucrat had been cleared of all charges.
On Monday, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, who was part of the three-member selection committee, including the prime minister and home minister, had said she was put under “pressure” to agree with the candidate choice for CVC.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha had said she had “reservations” about Thomas and wanted a person who had an unblemished background.
However, Manmohan Singh Monday defended the government’s decision. “We have done the right thing. We have chosen the best candidate out of the list of three,” he had said.
