Manmohan Singh virtually blamed former MoS (personnel) Prithviraj Chavan for the fiasco involving appointment of Thomas as CVC, saying the note forwarded by him for the selection committee did not have information about corruption case against Thomas.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday virtually blamed former minister of state (MoS- Personnel) Prithviraj Chavan for the fiasco involving appointment of PJ Thomas as central vigilance commissionner (CVC), saying the note forwarded by him for the selection committee did not have information about corruption case against Thomas.
Singh told the Rajya Sabha that he was not aware of a charge sheet against Thomas till the meeting of selection committee on September 3 last year and that he gave his approval as he believed vigilance clearance would have been obtained as Thomas had earlier served as Kerala chief secretary and secretary in the Central government.
At the same time, Singh owned 'accountability' and responsibility for the 'error of judgement' in appointment of Thomas which has since been struck down by the Supreme Court.
Responding to clarifications sought by leader of the opposition Arun Jaitley and Left members after his suo motu statement, Singh said, "Until I went to the meeting of the committee, I was not aware there was any such case of Palmolein and that would involve corruption."
He said he became aware of this case only when the honourable leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha (Sushma Swaraj) raised the issue in the meeting itself.
Pointing out that the notes for such committees are prepared "under the guidance of minister of state incharge of the minister of personnel public grievances and pensions (DoPT)", the prime minister said, "The honest answer is that the note which was prepared by the DoPT ... did not contain this information about charge sheet."
Chavan, who is now Maharashtra chief minister, was the MoS incharge of DoPT at the time of Thomas' selection by the committee headed by the prime minister and comprising the home minister and leader of the opposition.
Explaining why he still gave his approval to Thomas' name, Singh said, "since the gentleman was appointed chief secretary, government of Kerala and that he was appointed as secretary to two departments of the government of India, I thought vigilance matters must have been looked into and therefore we went ahead with the selection process."
Singh, who made such a statement on the CVC fiasco in the Lok Sabha yesterday, reiterated that the selection was an 'error of judgement' and he took full responsibility for it.
Left members were not satisfied with the reply and staged a walkout.
While seeking clarifications on his statement, Jaitley said while the prime minister was 'gracious enough' to accept responsibility and accountability, whoever was 'responsible' for pushing Thomas' case must be held accountable.
"What does the prime minister propose to do in this regard," Jaitley asked.
He also asked whether the government would keep in mind for future the Supreme Court's observation that the integrity of the institutions should be enhanced.
Jaitley said when the LoP in the Lok Sabha had pointed out in the high powered committee that CVC's appointment be postponed, "why did the government come with pre-conceived" idea that "Thomas and only Thomas alone" was to be selected.
Why two other candidates with relatively cleaner image were overlooked in favour of one who has been chargesheeted, he asked.
He also wanted to know from Singh whether the prime minister or the committee was informed about the pendency of charge sheet against one of the candidates. "Who was responsible," he asked. "Was it the DoPT, PMO or someone else," Jaitley sought to know.
Similarly, seeking reasons for overlooking objection to appointment of Thomas, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury asked "was there any pressure on the government?" If it was so, the House should be told so that it can be faced collectively. These issues must be answered publicly, he said.
Asking the prime minister to come 'cleaner' on the issue, D Raja (CPI) asked, "Whether Singh was under some compulsion? PM must come out with more details" and explain how he was forced."
Raja said during the entire controversy, whenever confronted by media, home minister P Chidambaram kept telling them, "Go and ask DoPT".
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