PM blames Chavan, who points at Kerala
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday accepted “full responsibility” of the “error of judgment” in appointing P.J. Thomas as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and said shortlisting of names (including that of Mr Thomas) was done by minister of state (MoS) in the department of personnel and training(DoPT). Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavhan was the MoS, DoPT at the time of Mr Thomas’ selection by the committee headed by the Prime Minister and comprising the home minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
Meanwhile, Mr Chavan, who was in Pune on Tuesday, tried to shift the buck on the Kerala state government. The chief minister said since the state of Kerala had Mr Thomas as its chief secretary, his antecedent could not have been suspected. Mr Chavan also said that it was right on part of the PM to say that it was he who had chosen one of the names that were shortlisted and submitted to him by the DoPT.
Moreover, replying to clarifications sought by the Opposition members in Rajya Sabha after he made a statement on the CVC appointment issue, Prime Minister said he was not aware of the pending criminal case against Mr Thomas until Leader of the Opposition, Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj raised it during the high powered committee meeting. Maharashtra Dr Singh conceded in Lok Sabha on Monday that he made an error in Mr Thomas’s appointment.
“Was I aware of the chargesheet against Mr Thomas? The honest answer is that the notes which were prepared by the department and these notes are prepared under the guidance of the minister of state in charge of the DoPT, that note did not contain this information,” Dr Singh said.
The Prime Minister said he believed that vigilance matters must have been looked into as Mr Thomas was earlier appointed Kerala chief secretary and secretary to the Government of India.
He also informed the House that the shortlisting of names, including that of Mr Thomas was done by minister of state in the department of personnel. The Supreme Court had last week quashed Mr Thomas’s appointment.
However, the main Opposition BJP and Left parties voiced dissatisfaction with Prime Minister’s clarification, demanding that his acceptance of responsibility should be taken forward by taking against the guilty. The Left parties later staged a walkout from the Upper House over PM’s clarification.
Earlier, seeking clarifications from the Prime Minister on Mr Thomas’s appointment, Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley sought to know as who was responsible for the preparation of the shortlist and whether the government is proposing to take any action against the person “responsible for pushing the particular name”.
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