Unaware of case against PJ Thomas: Govt to SC

The Central government on Thursday pleaded ignorance regarding pending corruption cases against Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) PJ Thomas while appointing him to the post.

A SC bench, headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia, had earlier asked the government if the three-member panel, headed by the prime minister, was aware of the corruption case and prosecution sanction granted by Kerala government while appointing Thomas as the CVC.

Attorney General GE Vahanvati, appearing on behalf of the government, said that the government was not aware of these facts.

?It was not before the committee. The material pertaining to the sanction for prosecution under section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code
was not before the committee. The bio-data did not reflect this aspect before the committee,? Vahanvati said.

The apex court bench, also comprising justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swantanter Kumar, had said: ?We are not going into the merits of the case. We want to know whether the material pertaining to charge sheet and the sanction were brought before the committee or not.

?We want to know whether relevant material was brought before the committee and whether these documents were brought were before it.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) had challenged Thomas? appointment as the CVC pointing to an oil import case against him, though Thomas has pleaded innocence in an affidavit before the Supreme Court.