The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the appointments of Chief Vigilance Commissioner KV Chaudhary and Vigilance Commissioner TM Bhasin, giving a respite to the Centre.
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said there were no grounds to quash the appointments of Chaudhary and Bhasin.
Arguing on behalf of the petitioner, Common Cause, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan had contended the appointments of Chaudhary and Bhasin as “arbitrary, illegal and in violation of the principle of institutional integrity”. Bhushan is also a member of the NGO. The judgement was reserved by the apex court in September last year.
Reacting to the order on Monday, Bhushan told Outlook: “I have not read the judgement, but given the manner in which the Sahara-Birla Diaries case was handled, I am not surprised."
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He also alleged that Justice Mishra is close to the BJP.
"Mishra had earlier said In the Sahara-Birla Diaries case that big people can’t be investigated on such and such evidence, and that shows the mentality,” Bhushan said, adding that the CVC appointment case was allotted in similar manner by the previous Chief Justice of India, “for a particular outcome”.
“This is what the four judges had said at their press conference in January", referring to the unprecedented press meet held by Justice (retired) J Chelameswar, Justices Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph, Bhushan said.
"It's shameful and unfortunate that the BJP and the Congress have come together to destroy the CVC (by) appointing a dubious and pliable person as its chief," Bhushan had said when reacting to the appointment of the CVC in 2015.
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In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2015, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had also sought withdrawal of Bhasin’s appointment citing “moral turpitude”. Both the appointments were cleared by a three-member committee comprising the Prime Minister, Home Minister, and the Leader of Opposition, reported The Economic Times.
The CVC is an apex body set up to “advise and guide Central Government agencies in the field of vigilance”, according to its website. It was set up in 1964 and later received statutory status. It consists of one Chief Vigilance Commissioner as chairman and two Vigilance Commissioners as members.
Chaudhary worked as Chief of the CBDT until his appointment as the CVC in 2015. Bhasin was the CMD of Indian Bank, before joining the commission as one of the two Vigilance Commissioners.
Bhushan had alleged that Chaudhary’s name had cropped up in the Stockguru scam, and also in the controversy relating to visitors to ex-CBI director Ranjit Sinha’s official residence. The NGO also alleged that Chaudhary had abused his position as member (investigation) in the CBDT to under-assess income of a company owned by the controversial Ponty Chadha by Rs 234 crore, reported Live Law.
Regarding Bhasin’s credentials, the NGO had alleged that he had been indicted by the CVC itself in 2013, when he was serving as the CMD of Indian Bank, for forging and tampering with the appraisal report of the then general manager of the bank. The general manager, Malay Mukherjee, was seeking promotion to the post of ED, the report added.
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In 2015, Bhasin had defended himself by saying: “I completed my full five-year term as the CMD of Indian Bank in March 2015, and my term was extended until my superannuation in May. This was done only after Vigilance, CBI, and other clearances”
During the hearing, additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the government had told the court that details of every candidates, who had applied for the posts of CVC and VC, was checked by the vigilance department and Chaudhary and Bhasin were given clearances by the agencies.
