Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Union government made an embarrassing claim in the Supreme court on Thursday. The government claimed that it was not aware of the full facts of the allegations against anti corruption watchdog, CVC P.J.Thomas when his name was cleared for the post.
The committee to appoint him comprises of the prime minister, the home minister and the third member the leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj who now says the government is lying and she will take her case to the apex court.
There is more trouble for the government in its defence of CVC PJ Thomas. Already under fire from the Opposition for choosing a bureaucrat with tainted credentials, the Centre was forced to admit that the files relating to the case against Thomas in the Palmolein oil case weren’t circulated before the committee that approved his appointment.
This admission came when a three judge bench of the court asked the Attorney General whether all files and papers related to the Palmolein scam were placed before the committee for appointing CVC.
The Attorney General replied the files weren’t circulated.
This meant that the decision to appoint PJ Thomas as CVC was taken without the committee being aware of full facts of the case.
It was a claim that was immediately rebutted by the BJP.
Sushma Swaraj accused the Attorney General of lying on CVC PJ Thomas' appointment.
"The Attorney General’s statement before the Supreme Court that the government was in the dark or the home minister and the prime minister did not know about this case against is absolutely false,” said Sushma Swaraj.
Sources say it was the DoPT which should have kept the government informed about chargesheet filed against Thomas. But even then the government will find it difficult to deny that they knew what allegations existed against Thomas.
"I am not saying the PM wasn’t informed. I am saying full facts may not have been known,” said the Attorney General.
Earlier, the CVC himself had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court contending that the entire case against him was political in nature.
The government has gone to the extent of stating that impeccable integrity wasn’t the eligibility criterion but a desirable criterion for the CVC. It’s a tactic which is now bound to escalate tension between the government and the opposition.
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