THOMAS QUITS: A CASE OF SYSTEMIC FAILURE?
While it is heartening to know that the Supreme Court has held "illegal" the appointment of PJ Thomas as the CVC, the cleansing that has started with his resignation should not stop at that. The need is to look beyond the case as that of a single person and instead treat is as a "systemic failure".
To start with, Kerala Chief Minister has admitted that he went ahead with appointing Thomas as state's chief secretary in 2007 as he could not "antagonize the entire IAS lobby that had pushed for his appointment." Had not the Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption department pointed out his involvement in the palm oil case then?
It was this post that eventually led to Thomas's Central deputation in 2009 and subsequent appointment as the CVC. Thomas claims himself as "a victim of political war" which is vindicated by the Kerala Chief Minister's statement that he "took up the case and fought alone all these years." If that had not been correct, Thomas's name would not have been added in the palm oil case charge sheet later.
Further, the government claims that it was not aware about the charge sheet in palm oil case, a fact supported by the ex-CVC Pratyush Sinha. Then the question arises, if Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj can know about it and raise it at the appropriate platform, why did the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, the other two members of the selection panel, not take cognizance of the same. And now, the Supreme Court has laid down new guidelines for the appointment of the CVC.
What is evident in the whole affair is that it is a classic case of systemic failure wherein there are no tabs whatsoever to cross check and verify a person's credentials when he is due for appointment to a constitutional post like that of the CVC.
There needs to be debate on related issues that critically point to system failure. The palm oil case has been pending before the vigilance and "an anti-corruption court" in Kerala since 1992. Nineteen long years, and still no hope of a verdict! No wonder, this case was never included in the dossier sent by the Kerala government to the Centre, when Thomas was being considered for appointed as a Secretary to the Central government.
The government too now has accepted this particular case as a systemic failure. That brings forth a question: If this being the case, why only Thomas should be singled out? Why only Thomas should quit? What about the system that encouraged a tainted person like him to climb the ladder to reach one of the highest constitutional posts?
The need of the hour is an overhauling of the system. Just like the CVC appointment, there is enough scope pointing to a similar systemic failure in case of 2G, Adarsh, CWG, black money and Pune businessman Hasan Ali cases. Thomas is likely to file a review petition in the Supreme Court? Will the apex court do justice to the complete case vis-à-vis the system?
LT COL (RETD) K R DHARMADHIKARY
Member, Board, Transparency International India (TII) New Delhi
krdharma@yahoo.co.in
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