Should leader of opposition be in the CVC-appointment panel if she has no say? -Governance Now

Should leader of opposition be in the CVC-appointment panel if she has no say?

Prasanna Mohanty | September 6, 2010

Telecom secretary PJ Thomas is set to take charge as the chief vigilance commissioner (CVC) from tomorrow, notwithstanding a note of dissent from the leader of ipposition, Sushma Swaraj. She is part of the three-member panel that selects the CVC.

Swaraj is learnt to have objected to Thomas’ candidature saying that the officer’s name figured in the palm oil scam in Kerala some years ago, though his name was subsequently cleared. Thomas is an IAS officer of the Kerala cadre and took charge of the telecom ministry about a year-and-half ago.

Our point is simple. Why should the leader of opposition be part of the panel appointing the CVC if she has no say? Or if she can simply be overruled by the prime minister and the home minister, who are the other two members of the panel, by two-to-one vote?

We are not going into the merits of Thomas, which is questionable in any case. But that calls for another debate.

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