Nowhere to hide,Cong now says: an error and a lesson

Singh said he respected the verdict. He will be making a statement in Parliament. The Congress Core Group met at the PM’s residence and discussed the ruling.

Though Moily claimed Thomas had resigned,the CVC’s counsel Wills Mathews said: “It is incorrect. Thomas has not resigned. We have not even received a copy of the judgment.”

But legal experts said the question of resignation did not arise as the court had struck down the appointment,holding that the recommendation of the name of Thomas as CVC was non-est (does not exist) in law.

On the ruling,Moily admitted only to a “systematic failure in governance”.

“We have to trust some institutions like the CVC which had given clearance for his (Thomas’s) appointment first as Chief Secretary,Kerala,and then as Secretary,Government of India. The system failed but that does not mean that the Prime Minister did anything wrong. The court has also held that there need not be unanimity (in the three-member panel that appoints the CVC). They have expanded the parametres for appointment of the CVC and we will now have to look into it.”

“Certain procedures have been in place since the enactment of the CVC Act in 2003. The integrity of an officer has to be cleared by an institution,which is the CVC. Therefore,at the most,there was systematic failure in governance. It is a lesson which we have to take,” he said.

Asked if the ruling was a “slap” on the face,Moily said,“If judicial review of an executive decision is taken as a slap,no government can function.”

The Congress cautioned against politicising the judgment. “Errors are there which is why the court intervenes. No malafide has been alleged and no malafide proved,” Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said. “Invalidation of the appointment is not a matter of malafide. The error has been set right by a legal judgment… we bow down before it,” he said.

A senior government functionary told The Indian Express that the process of finalising a new panel of names for the post would start “very soon” and,as per the Supreme Court direction,“non-IAS officers” would also be considered.

Union Finance Secretary Sushma Nath and Union Home Secretary G K Pillai,sources said,are among the names being considered by the government for the panel of candidates that will be placed before the selection committee headed by the Prime Minister.

While appointing her Finance Secretary,the government had granted a two-month extension in service to Nath who was scheduled to retire on March 31. Pillai’s two-year tenure as Home Secretary ends on June 30.

Incidentally,by ruling that the recommendation of the name of Thomas as CVC was non-est in law,the Supreme Court also paved the way for further proceedings against him in the Palmolein oil import scam.

The Kerala government request to the Department of Personnel and Training for grant of prosecution sanction in the case,which first came to the Union government on December 31,1999,also became infructuous with today’s judgment.

“Since Thomas,who had over a year left to retire from the IAS when he was appointed CVC,resigned from civil services to take up the next assignment,there is now no need for any sanction. The Kerala government can proceed against him anytime now,” the functionary said.