PM damaged collegium system for making appointments to public positions: Arun Jaitley

Zee Media Bureau/Manisha Singh

New Delhi: BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh needed to introspect the damage he had done to the collegium system. He also accused the PM of putting on a veneer of straightforwardness but on the contrary being excessively political. Writing on his official site Jaitley says, “There are a large number of public appointments which are expected to be on non-partisan lines. Government is a political entity. Appointments which are exclusively made by the political executive in the government fail to inspire confidence. It is for this reason that the collegium system has been mooted in relation to several appointments.” He further says, “As PM Manmohan Singh’s tenure comes to an end, it is time for him to introspect the damage he has done to the collegium system. He puts on a veneer of straightforwardness but he is excessively political... As a PM, he wanted to appoint a tainted person as the CVC. My colleague and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, dissented. Her dissent was upheld and the appointment of the CVC was struck down.” On the issue of Lokpal the BJP leader writes, “Even though the Lokpal law gives power to the four members to appoint the fifth member, the discretion of the four members was restricted for selecting seven members of the committee. The eminent jurist included Mohan Gopal, a functionary of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Swaraj is believed to have suggested that amongst the eminent jurists available, the best in the outstanding persons could be appointed. She suggested the names of the former CJI, FS Nariman, Soli Sorabjee, K Parasaran, and Shri Harish Salve. Swaraj would even have been agreeable to the names of Justice M N Venkatachaliah and KK Venugopal. The PM maintained a position that only one name could be considered that of PP Rao. None of the names suggested by Swaraj could be considered.” Hitting back at the CM, Jaitley says, “PP Rao is an honourable man. It is the PM’s insistence that none of the others could be considered and the government was only interested in PP Rao is what makes me doubt its intentions. The objective of having a Chief Justice or his nominee judge in the collegium was intended to maintain a balance. Ordinarily, in view of the divided opinion, the nominee judge was expected to come out with some outstanding name who would be acceptable by all. This did not happen.” He concludes his blog by writing, “Dr Singh’s tenure as Prime Minister comes to an end soon. Amongst the various institutions that he has done damage to is the collegium system for making appointments to several public positions. As one of those who was actively involved in drafting of the Lokpal law, I have started introspecting as to whether the collegium system can be so easily subverted in order to subvert the appointment of a Lokpal. The Prime Minister damaged the institution of Lokpal even prior to its appointment.” BJP and Congress were today at loggerheads over the government`s move to appoint a jurist to Lokpal selection panel with the main opposition approaching President Pranab Mukherjee to press its demand for a consensus on such an issue. BJP said the government is trying to negate the spirit of the Parliamentary Select Committees recommendations while Congress said the opposition party was making "lameduck excuses" because of its "hidden agenda" of blocking the constitution of Lokpal, as per PTI reports. Sushma Swaraj, who is opposing appointment of Supreme Court lawyer P P Rao in the panel, met Mukherjee and lodged protest at the manner in which the government pushed his nomination. Swaraj, who is a member of the Lokpal Selection Committee, feels that Rao is a "Congress-loyalist" and should not be in the panel to ensure its neutrality of the body that will choose members of the anti-graft ombudsman. She expressed her opposition first at the meeting of the Selection Committee convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this week. Blaming the Prime Minister for the row, BJP accused him of having "failed" in his duty on the Lokpal appointment issue and said it goes against the spirit of Parliamentary approval. The Lokpal selection committee comprises the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition, the Lok Sabha Speaker, the Chief Justice of India or his representative and an eminent jurist. The current row is related to appointment of P P Rao in the category of `eminent jurist`. With PTI inputs