‘I am still the CVC’, says Thomas

NEW DELHI - Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) PJ Thomas on Monday refused to resign despite charges of corruption levelled against him when he was in Kerala, saying he was still the CVC and the matter has to be first decided in court.

“I am still the Central Vigilance Commissioner. The matter is in court. So no comments,” Thomas told reporters here.

The apex court has fixed February 3 as the next hearing in the matter.

Earlier, leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj has said she would be filing an affidavit before the Supreme Court giving her point of view on the controversial appointment of Thomas.

“The argument in the Supreme Court is completely untrue. I personally brought this fact to the notice of the Prime Minister and Home Minister in the meeting. My precise objection was in regards to the Palmolein case. However, they persisted with his appointment. I have finally decided to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court over this issue,” she added.

The Government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the selection committee was not aware of the case pending against PJ Thomas.

This was stated by Attorney General G E Vahanvati before a bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia, which wanted to know if the issue of sanction and the charge sheet against Thomas was presented before the three-member committee headed by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh selected him for the assignment.

The response of Attorney General came on a question from the bench whether the material relating to the charge sheet and sanction was presented before the committee.

Centre for Public Interest Litigation, an NGO and others had challenged Thomas” appointment as the CVC, quoting the Palmolein import corruption case in which Thomas is an accused.

The Supreme Court had asked the government to answer several questions on the appointment of Thomas as the Central Vigilance Commissioner while he was facing corruption charges. (ANI)