Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar unanimously selected new CVC

Mangalore Today / NDTV

New Delhi, July 2:  A three-member committee consisting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj met at the PM’s residence in Delhi today to select the new Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).

 

Sources have told NDTV that Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar has been unanimously selected by the committee to be the new CVC. Kumar retires as Defence Secretary on July 31. He is a Haryana cadre IAS officer of the 1972 batch, and was Secretary, Defence Production, before becoming the Defence Secretary.

 "The name of the new CVC has been finalised; no objections were raised. The name will be announced by government," said Sushma Swaraj after the meeting.

The government had received over 50 nominations from various ministries, departments and individuals for the post of CVC following the ouster of PJ Thomas.

In March this year, the Supreme Court declared that appointment of P J Thomas as India’s Central Vigilance Commissioner was invalid. Thomas was selected in September 2010 by the three-member committee. The court said that the corruption charges pending against Thomas should have ruled him out for a job that requires him to check corruption among government officials and bureaucrats.

The court said that the PM’s selection committee had not considered the relevant documents for his case, and that it had ignored earlier recommendations for action against him listed by the Department of Personnel and Training.

Thomas was a senior bureaucrat in Kerala in the early 90s, when he allegedly pushed the government to allow the import of edible oil or palmolein. The deal ended up costing the government crores. Thomas was charged with corruption in a criminal case, but because of the political sensitivities of those named with him, the case progressed in fits and starts, depending on which government was in power in Kerala. Thomas enjoyed a series of promotions which saw him being deputed to the Centre.