Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi:
PJ Thomas may be gone as the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), but the controversy over his appointment shows no signs of dying down.
The Kerala government on Thursday released a letter that showed it had told the Centre that Mr Thomas had a pending vigilance case against him, and could not be considered for deputation.
That knocks a hole in what the then Personnel minister Prithviraj Chavan had claimed. Chavan, who's now the Chief Minister of Maharashtra had claimed on Wednesday that Mr Thomas's name for CVC had been listed after he was given a clean chit by the Kerala government. (
Watch: I have been misquoted, says Chavan)
Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan today said, "Centre was informed about pending Palmolein case against Thomas. Congress tried to foist the responsibility of bungle on Kerala." Achuthanandan added, "Chavan is parading naked lies, and the allegations on us are baseless."
That may well be the case. In the letter accessed by NDTV, a Joint Secretary to the Government of Kerala had written to the Additional Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training on March 11, 2008: "Sri P J Thomas, IAS, Secretary to the Government, had applied for Central deputation in 1988, but was not selected for appointment. Subsequently, after 1992, he had expressed his willingness for Central deputation but was not considered because of a vigilance inquiry/case. Because of this, he was not considered so far. The case has not been finalised yet. I may inform that Sri P J Thomas could not work at the Centre as he was not recommended for the same by the state government."
Interestingly, O Babu, the Joint Secretary signed the letter on behalf of the Chief secretary to Government of Kerala, which at that time was Thomas himself.
Chavan, then Minister of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), had said on Wednesday that due procedures were followed in the appointment of Thomas as CVC and sought to pass the buck to the CPM-led Left Front government in Kerala. "DoPT had suggested three names - two retired officers and one serving - for the post. One of them was Chief Secretary in a state to be brought to Delhi. Vigilance clearance is done by the state," Chavan had said.
In New Delhi to meet Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi, the Maharashtra Chief Minister said today that statements had been wrongly interpreted and that he had nothing further to add to what the Prime Minister had said on this matter in Parliament.
As the Opposition turned its heat on the government over Thomas' appointment as CVC, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had accepted in the Lok Sabha last week that his decision to go with Thomas was "an error of judgement" and that he accepts "full responsibility."
But speaking in Rajya Sabha, Dr Singh said that he was not aware of a chargesheet 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.
"The honest answer is that the note which was prepared by the DoPT... did not contain this information about chargesheet. 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," Dr Singh said.
Dissatisfied with the Prime Minister's reply, the Left MPs had walked out of Rajya Sabha. Now, the Left plans to raise the issue Mr Thomas's appointment in Parliament once again.
The Supreme Court had, last week, declared Mr Thomas's appointment as illegal.