New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Union government to form a panel of 15 names for consideration for the post of Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).
The apex court further directed that the named be submitted to it in a sealed envelope by January 15, 2015.
Importantly, the court also mentioned that without its consent CVC will not be appointed
During a earlier hearing, Sep 18, on the CVC issue, the court had rapped the Union government for lack of transparency in the selection process of chief vigilance commissioner and vigilance commissioners, following which government gave the assurance that no final decision will be taken without its nod.
Raising questions on lack of transparency in the selection process of CVC and VCs, the court said this promotes ”favouritism and nepotism” and asked why only bureaucrats are picked for the posts and not common people.
”Transparency should be the hall mark of such selection procedure and existing system is being criticised because of lack of transparency,” a bench headed by Chief Justice RM Lodha had said.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi submitted that application cannot be invited from people for the post as many people prefer to be considered by the Centre for the post rather then apply for it.
He said that selection process would take at least one month to complete and assured the court that “no final decision would be taken on appointment during the pendency of the case in the apex court”.
Enumerating the selection process, the Attorney General said that Cabinet secretary and 36 other secretaries proposes the name of 120 people for the post out of which 20 names are taken and five people are shortlisted and forwarded to the selection committee.
The bench thereafter asked about the criteria under which names are forwarded and different secretaries might have different yardstick while sending the names.
The court was hearing a public-interest litigation alleging that Centre was going ahead with the appointment of CVC and VC without giving wide publicity to the vacancies arising on the completion of tenure of CVC Pradip Kumar and VC J M Garg on September 28 and September 7 respectively.
The PIL filed by a non-governmental organisation, Centre for Integrity, Governance and Training in Vigilance Administration, referred to the July 21 letter issued by the secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), to secretaries in Government to suggest names for empanelment for the post of CVC and VC, allegedly aimed at keeping away the common people.
With PTI inputs
