Prez cancels Thomas' appointment as CVC

President Pratibha Patil tonight cancelled the appointment of P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner, 11 days after the Supreme Court quashed his selection by a high-powered committee (HPC) headed by Prime Miniser Manmohan Singh.

A Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson said in a brief statement, “The President has signed the warrant of cancellation of appointment of P J Thomas as CVC today.”

The Supreme Court had on March 3 quashed the appointment of Thomas, saying the HPC recommendation did not consider a chargesheet relating to a corruption case pending against him. “We declare that the recommendation made by the high-powered committee is ‘non est’ in law. Which means the recommendations made on September 3, 2010, does not exist in law. Consequently, the appointment of Thomas goes,” the court had held.

The Prime Minister had accepted full responsibility for what he termed an “error of judgement” while noting there was no mention of the pending case against Thomas in the information provided to the panel by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). The DoPT had sent a note to the President after obtaining the copy of the Supreme Court order.

With the cancellation of his appointment, the government can proceed with the selection of a new CVC.

The announcement came as Thomas was preparing to approach the Supreme Court for a review of its judgement. Thomas was selected last September by the three-member HPC, which had Home Minister P Chidambaram and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, as its members. Swaraj had put a dissenting note opposing Thomas’ selection.