The fate of controversial Central Vigilance Commissioner P.J. Thomas is virtually in the hands of the Supreme Court which will hear a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against his appointment on Monday .

Though the government has become active to prove him clean, the current mood in the establishment is not in favour of his continuance. They are persuading him to step down.
Having landed neck-deep into controversy, Mr Thomas may be left with little option but to put in his papers ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on Monday to avoid embarrassment to the government when the issue figures in the top court.
Clearly defending Mr Thomas for his “clean image”, government officials conceded that the “technical” aspect of his name figuring in the chargesheet relating to import of Palmolein when he was serving in the Kerala government has landed him in trouble. The Supreme Court has questioned how he would function as CVC in view of a pending criminal case against him.
The sources said that even as Mr Thomas has been given vigilance clearance, the fact remains that the sanction for prosecution in the Palmolein case had been pending for the last 10 years.
There is also a thinking in government circles that these aspects could have been kept in mind during the appointment of the CVC and the other two names could have been considered by the panel.
Mr Thomas has been maintaining that there was no corruption charge against him and his conscience was clear.
“I am morally clear. My conscience is very clear. I am continuing as CVC,” he told reporters on Thursday dismissing as “speculative” questions on his possible resignation.
Mr Thomas claimed that he was an impartial person and distanced himself from the 2G spectrum scam as well as the Palmolein import case, over which there are demands for his resignation.
“The Palmolein import case is a very old case. It did not happen in my tenure. I am not really aware of its status. The state government has a very funny stand on it,” he said.
He said that the case related to the council of ministers in Kerala taking a decision to import Palmolein and as food secretary he had implemented it. “On that basis, to level criminal conspiracy charge against me is funny,” he said.
On the alleged 2G spectrum scam, he said the matter was subjudice and it would not be appropriate for him to speak anything on it.
Asked further, he, however, said the alleged scam happened when he was not the telecom secretary. “It happened between 2007 and 2008 when I was not the telecom secretary,” he said.
“I am very impartial and take judicious decisions as per the law on every matter that comes to me,” he said.
Mr Thomas’ name figures in a chargesheet related to the alleged scam of importing Palmolein in Kerala in 1991 and the Supreme Court questioned how he would function in as CVC in view of a pending criminal case against him.
Sixty-year-old Thomas, who was Telecom Secretary till recently, was appointed to the CVC’s post by a three-member panel headed by Prime Minister but not before the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj gave a dissenting note.
Meanwhile, Kerala IAS officers association on Thursday came out in support of Mr Thomas.
Expressing serious concern over the “smear campaign” against him, the association viewed he was a person of “impeccable integrity” and there was no reason to doubt his honesty.
“Many of us had worked with him and there was no occasion to doubt his honesty and integrity. We express our serious concern over the smear campaign against him”, the association said in a statement, according to reports from Thiruvananthapuram.
Sources claimed that the Kerala Vigilance case admits that the decision to purchase the palmolein without tender was taken by the state Cabinet (as an outside the agenda item) and all that Mr Thomas did was to issue the go on the basis of the cabinet decision formally communicated to him by the chief secretary.