New Delhi:
Will Central Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas resign today? There are reports that the CVC may quit ahead of a Supreme Court hearing on Monday that challenges his appointment.
The Supreme Court has been highly critical of the government's decision to appoint him as the CVC because he is an accused in the Kerala Palmolein import scam of 1992 that caused a loss of 2.8 crore rupees to the exchequer.
The government has been trying to project that Thomas's involvement in the Palmolein import scam is only political, but documents with NDTV show that PJ Thomas actually pushed for the import when he was Kerala's Food Secretary in 1991.
The documents show that Thomas, as Kerala Food Secretary in 1991, wrote to the Centre seeking permission for direct import of 15,000 tonnes of Palmolein, nine days before the Cabinet actually took the decision.
According to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, the deal caused a loss of 2.8 crore rupees to the exchequer.
"I was merely implementing the Cabinet decision," is what Thomas had to say. But the defence has now fallen flat.
The Centre had been defending Thomas as "an outstanding civil servant."
But in 1995, the Congress-led government in Kerala, while tabling the CAG report in the Assembly, said that Thomas' letter to the Centre dated November 18, 1991, was the basis of the murky Palmolein import deal.
It is then ironic that the very same Congress appointed him CVC 10 years later despite huge protests from the Opposition.
The Supreme Court has been highly critical of the government's decision to appoint him as the CVC because he is an accused in the Kerala Palmolein import scam of 1992 that caused a loss of 2.8 crore rupees to the exchequer.
The government has been trying to project that Thomas's involvement in the Palmolein import scam is only political, but documents with NDTV show that PJ Thomas actually pushed for the import when he was Kerala's Food Secretary in 1991.
The documents show that Thomas, as Kerala Food Secretary in 1991, wrote to the Centre seeking permission for direct import of 15,000 tonnes of Palmolein, nine days before the Cabinet actually took the decision.
According to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, the deal caused a loss of 2.8 crore rupees to the exchequer.
"I was merely implementing the Cabinet decision," is what Thomas had to say. But the defence has now fallen flat.
The Centre had been defending Thomas as "an outstanding civil servant."
But in 1995, the Congress-led government in Kerala, while tabling the CAG report in the Assembly, said that Thomas' letter to the Centre dated November 18, 1991, was the basis of the murky Palmolein import deal.
It is then ironic that the very same Congress appointed him CVC 10 years later despite huge protests from the Opposition.
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