Cong flays Kothari's appointment as Vigilance Chief, may move court

Congress leader Manish Tewari addresses a press conference at the party's headquarters in New Delhi on February 19. (IANS Photo)

New Delhi, February 19 (IANS): The Congress here on Wednesday criticised the announcement of Sanjay Kothari's name for the post of Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) on Tuesday and demanded initiation of fresh procedure for appointing the CVC.

Addressing the media, Congress leader Manish Tiwari said Kothari's name was not short-listed by the search committee and the Prime Minister had announced his name without any procedure.

The Congress might move the court if the government notified Kothari's name, he said and demanded de novo procedure. Congress floor leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Chaudhry had made the objection clear, he added.

"What happened on Tuesday had vitiated the process of appointing the CVC and the Vigilance Commissioner (VC) as the procedure and proprietary were thrown to the wind," Tiwari said.

The Congress said the search committee held two separate meetings - one for the CVC and the other for the VC - on November 18 under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary.

The search committee had received 180 applicants. Of this, 38 had applied for the CVC's post, 88 for both the CVC and the VC posts, and 54 only for the VC.

"The committee, comprising Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Personnel Secretary A.C. Chandramouli and Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar, recommended a panel of three names in alphabetical order for the CVC's post," said the Congress.

Given the importance of the CVC, it was extremely important that people appointed to the post of the CVC or the VCs should be of unimpeachable integrity and the process of appointment be absolutely kosher, he said.

"The Narendra Modi government wants to destroy the Central Vigilance Commission like other institutions," Tiwari said.