CVC Thomas was told last month CVC cant contest govts policy decisions

Former Telecom Secretary P J Thomas was today sworn in as the Central Vigilance Commissioner at a Rashtrapati Bhawan ceremony boycotted by the BJP.

Former Telecom Secretary P J Thomas was today sworn in as the Central Vigilance Commissioner at a Rashtrapati Bhawan ceremony boycotted by the BJP. Less than a month ago,the department he headed sought legal opinion and was told that neither the CVC nor the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor-General) had the power to challenge policy decisions taken by the government.

With the Director-General of Audit (Post and Telegraph) raising questions on the issue of licence and allocation of 2G spectrum it is currently the subject of a CBI probe the Department of Telecom,at the instance of Minister A Raja,sent a note to the Ministrys legal adviser seeking opinion on whether the CAG had the authority to challenge policy decisions taken by the government. The note was dated August 10.

DoTs legal adviser Santokh Singh,an officer in the rank of joint secretary posted in the Telecom Ministry from the Law Ministry,prepared a seven-page reply,underlining that the CVC and CAG cannot challenge policy decisions taken by the government. The opinion was then forwarded to the Law Ministry for vetting.

The BJP alleged that the government wanted Thomas as the CVC to cover-up the 2G spectrum matter. Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj did not attend the swearing-in ceremony today.

BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said it was a conscious decision to skip the function to show the partys protest over the manner in which Thomas was appointed,brushing aside very legitimate concerns expressed by Swaraj.

The decision to appoint him as the CVC is scandalous with a design to frustrate the investigation, Prasad alleged.

Swaraj met President Pratibha Patil to explain the reasons behind her opposition to the appointment and recounted the deliberations she had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram when they met last Friday to select the new CVC.

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Swaraj,who was part of the three-member selection panel,had registered her dissent over his appointment. The BJP had pointed out that there were charges against Thomas in a palm oil import scandal during his tenure in Kerala in the early 1990s.