New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to take its permission before appointing the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and Vigilance Commissioner and also sought details about the selection process.
A bench comprising Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice Madan B Lokur, however, allowed the government to continue with the selection process. During the hearing, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre, informed the court that he will be filing the relevant records pertaining to the selection process in a sealed cover.
The bench was hearing a PIL filed by an NGO – Centre for Integrity, Governance and Training in Vigilance Administration, alleging that the Centre was going ahead with the appointment of CVC and VC without giving wide publicity to the vacancies arising on the completion of tenure of the then CVC Pradip Kumar and the then VC J M Garg. Kumar and Garg completed their tenure on September 28 and September 7, respectively.
During the hearing on September 18, the apex court had rapped the Centre for lack of transparency in the selection process of CVC and VC, following which government gave the assurance that no final decision will be taken without its nod.
Raising questions on lack of transparency in selection process of CVC and VCs, the apex court had said this promotes ‘favouritism and nepotism’ and had asked why only bureaucrats are picked for the posts and not common people.
