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February 3, 2011 TAROT | EDITOR'S MAIL Foray GO

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EDITS | Thursday, February 3, 2011 | Email | Print |

The system is flawed

February 03, 20 11 1 :15:05 AM

Thats why tainted officers flourish Now that his position as Chief Vigilance C ommissioner is threatened, Mr PJ Thomas has resorted to desperate measures to cling to his post. For one, he has claimed at the Supreme C ourt hearing against his appointment that all nine candidates (including him) who were shortlisted by the Union Government in 2008 had complaints pending against them. While what he has said may not be false bureaucrats do face all sorts of allegations in the course of discharging their duties and it is for the courts to decide if Mr Thomas is a victim of such machination it does not, in any manner, justify his appointment. Moreover, it is one thing to have allegations flung at you and quite another to be charge-sheeted and named an accused in a criminal case that is being tried in court. Mr Thomas is still an accused in the palmolein scam, especially since his 2008 clearance is also now under the scanner. How could an accused in a criminal case have been given a clean chit for selection as a Union Government officer? But this is not to ignore Mr Thomas observation about tainted candidates who were shortlisted. Indeed, in his desire to project his innocence, Mr Thomas has exposed the dubiousness of the entire selection process. It is ironical that he should have hit out at the system from which he has himself benefitted but perhaps the belligerence is because he feels betrayed by the UPA regime that is now secretly hoping he will just step down and save it from further shame. But Mr Thomas seems to be in no hurry to oblige his now embarrassed sponsors. If what the C VC has said is true, it cannot be entirely coincidental that all the nine officers had complaints pending against them. Some of the instances that he has cited in his affidavit before the apex court are indeed damning, and deserve a revisit, because they are not cases of mere complaints but those where the C BI recommended action against the empanelled official. If such names were cleared it is obviously with the help of political patronage. The empanelment system must be fine-tuned to ensure that tainted officers and certainly those who are accused or named in cases of impropriety do not pass muster. On this issue, the UPA has a lot of answering to do. The Government has bungled again in the selection of the C VC . It brushed aside the reservations of senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj who along with the Prime Minister and the Home Minister comprised the selection panel on Mr Thomass suitability for the post. In fact, it went a step further, with Mr P C hidambaram reportedly stating that Mr Thomas had been cleared in the palmolein case. One can only assume two things from this: Either the Government was not in possession of all the facts or that it deliberately tried to bluff its way through.

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