NEW DELHI: P J Thomas, the beleaguered Central Vigilance Commissioner, on Monday put yet another strong defence in his favour in the Supreme Court. Citing the cases of MPs facing criminal charges and still discharging functions as people’s representatives, senior counsel K K Venugopal appearing for him told a Bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia, Justice K S Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar that as many as 153 MPs presently face serious criminal charges and under these circumstances, the case against him should not be seen with a magnifying glass. During the previous hearing also Thomas applied the same logic and averred in his additional affidavit saying that the names of some top officers were cleared by the CVC earlier despite some cases / charges pending against them. “Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is wiped out by the fact that Thomas was appointed head of the bureaucracy by the very same government which issued sanction against him,” Venugopal said. Rules provide for suspension of IAS officers in certain cases, but not only was Thomas not suspended for any dereliction of duty, but in fact, was promoted as the Chief Secretary, Venugopal pointed out. The Chief Justice stressed, “If the very high authority doesn’t take into account the relevant facts, can it be said that a judicial review is not possible? We can strike down constitutional amendments and can’t we strike down constitutional appointments?” he asked. Tuesday, February 8, 2011
CVC cites MPs facing criminal charges in defence
NEW DELHI: P J Thomas, the beleaguered Central Vigilance Commissioner, on Monday put yet another strong defence in his favour in the Supreme Court. Citing the cases of MPs facing criminal charges and still discharging functions as people’s representatives, senior counsel K K Venugopal appearing for him told a Bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia, Justice K S Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar that as many as 153 MPs presently face serious criminal charges and under these circumstances, the case against him should not be seen with a magnifying glass. During the previous hearing also Thomas applied the same logic and averred in his additional affidavit saying that the names of some top officers were cleared by the CVC earlier despite some cases / charges pending against them. “Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is wiped out by the fact that Thomas was appointed head of the bureaucracy by the very same government which issued sanction against him,” Venugopal said. Rules provide for suspension of IAS officers in certain cases, but not only was Thomas not suspended for any dereliction of duty, but in fact, was promoted as the Chief Secretary, Venugopal pointed out. The Chief Justice stressed, “If the very high authority doesn’t take into account the relevant facts, can it be said that a judicial review is not possible? We can strike down constitutional amendments and can’t we strike down constitutional appointments?” he asked. 
