If I’m fit for Secy,why not for CVC: Thomas to SC

“Several authorities across the political and executive spectrum have exonerated me. My only fault probably is that I have not approached the media to carry my side of the story,” Thomas said.

These were some of the arguments made by Thomas in a second affidavit filed today in the Supreme Court,two days before a three-judge bench,led by Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia,is scheduled to hear on his eligibility to continue as CVC even as he remains an accused chargesheeted in the palmolein import case.

His original affidavit in the apex court on January 25 had backed the government’s stand in court that the appointment of the CVC was within the domain of the government and outside the court’s purview.

The bench,during the previous hearing,had asked the government if it had placed any documents on record before the committee of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,Home Minister P Chiadamabram and Leader of Opposition,Lok Sabha,Sushma Swaraj,to inform them of Thomas’s role in the palmolein case. The answer from Attorney General G E Vahnavati was in the negative.

Today,questioning the very question of the Supreme Court,Thomas contended that the “enquiry about the documents being placed before the three-member committee may not be relevant in the light of the fact that all the names on the shortlist were of Secretaries to the Government of India,who by virtue of their process of selection as Secretaries,are deemed to be of impeccable integrity”.

Thomas was the telecom secretary when he was shortlisted with two other senior IAS officers — Bijoy Chatterjee and Subbaroyan Krishnan — for the post of the CVC. He contended that he was the seniormost of over 40 IAS Secretaries to the Central Government,and it would have been inappropriate to “entirely ignore” him. He was sworn in as CVC on September 7,2010.

He explained to the court that officers like him by the very “virtue” of being Secretaries to the Government of India,“where they would have held very sensitive information in ministries like Home,External Affairs,Finance and Law and Justice”,are fit to handle official responsibilities with “impeccable integrity”.

“It can hardly be contended that I am deemed to be fit to be Secretary to the Government of India but not hold my present post,” he stated.

Thomas said his is not a “unique” case,and criminal complaints against IAS officers like him were but occupational hazards.

To prove his point,he noted that all eight officers from the 1972 and 1973 batches shortlisted along with him for central empanelment in 2008 had at one or the other time faced chargesheets or criminal complaints. Thomas annexed a detailed note on the Vigilance status of all his eight colleagues in his affidavit.