Sushma Swaraj says will not file affidavit on CVC case
By ANITuesday, February 1, 2011
NEW DELHI - Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj today said she will not file an affidavit in the case related to the appointment of Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) PJ Thomas.
Tweeting over the issue, she said: “Home Minister P. Chidambaram has admitted that I raised the Palmolein case in the meeting and recorded my disagreement precisely for this reason. Now, there is no dispute on facts. Therefore, there is no need for my affidavit.”
On Monday, Chidambaram said allegations against Thomas were discussed in the September 4, 2010 meeting of the selection committee, which included him, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sushma Swaraj.
Chidambaram said: “We did discuss the names in the panel. In fact, the bulk of the time (of discussion) was regarding P J Thomas and Palmolein case. She (Swaraj) made her points, the other members of the committee made their points.
“It was brought to the notice of the committee during the discussion that although the case was registered, no sanction of prosecution was granted by the NDA government from December 1999 to May, 2004 and by the UPA Government subsequently,” he added.
Earlier, Sushma Swaraj had 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. (ANI)
