Govt likely to decide on CVC Thomas fate

New Delhi, Jan 28 (ANI): The Congress Core Group would be meeting here today to decide over the fate of PJ Thomas continuing as Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).

As per reports, besides the core group meeting, Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily will also meet Home Minister Chidambaram and other senior party leaders to decide on the way forward.

The Government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that they were not aware of the cases pending against PJ Thomas.

This was stated by Attorney General G E Vahanvati before a bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia, which wanted to know if the issue of sanction and the charge sheet against Thomas was presented before the three-member committee headed by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh selected him for the assignment.

"It was not before the committee. The material pertaining to the sanction for prosecution under section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was not before the committee," Vahanvati said.

The response of Attorney General came on a question from the bench whether the material relating to the charge sheet and sanction was presented before the committee.

An NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, and others had challenged Thomas" appointment as the CVC, quoting the Palmolein import corruption case in which Thomas is an accused.

The Supreme Court had asked the government to answer several questions on the appointment of Thomas as the Central Vigilance Commissioner while he was facing corruption charges. (ANI)