Sushma Swaraj takes CVC battle to President Patil

NEW DELHI - Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, met President Pratibha Devisingh Patil here on Tuesday evening and explained that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) boycotted the swearing in ceremony of senior IAS officer P J Thomas as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner in view of allegations against him in palm oil import scam during his earlier tenure in Kerala.

Earlier, Swaraj, who was a part of the three-member Committee that selected 1973-batch Kerala cadre officer Thomas for the CVC Chief’s post, had registered her dissent over his appointment.

This was, however, ignored by the Committee headed by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and also included Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

BJP has alleged that the government wanted to appoint Thomas as the CVC head to ‘cover-up’ the alleged scam in allocation of 2G spectrum in which accusations have been levelled against Telecom Minister A Raja.

Earlier today, President Patil appointed former Telecom Secretary P.J. Thomas as India’s 14th Central Vigilance Commissioner.

Thomas was sworn in at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Thomas holds a Master’s Degree in physics and economics and has done a one-year course in public administration at the International Institute of Public Administration, Paris.

He is proficient in French, English, Hindi and Malayalam.

Thomas has held important assignments in the Government of Kerala as Secretary in Finance, Industry, Agriculture, Law and Justice and Human Resource Development Departments.

He was the Founder Director of Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode.

He became Chief Secretary of Kerala in 2007 and moved to Government of India as Secretary in Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs in January 2009.

He has been Secretary in Department of Telecommunication since October 2009 and is credited with steering 3G auction, which created a new benchmark in the country.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Prithviraj Chavan attended the swearing-in amongst others.

Thomas succeeded Pratyush Sinha, a 1969 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, who demitted office yesterday after a four-year tenure as CVC. (ANI)