New Delhi, Mar 3 : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said he respected the Supreme Court verdict on the quashing of the appointment of P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner.
"I respect the Supreme Court verdict," he said when asked to comment on the apex Court judgement.Parliament sources said that a statement would be made on behalf of the government in both the Houses.
A high-power committee, headed by the Prime Minister,had cleared the appointment of Thomas, the then Union Telecom Secretary, to the Consitutional post.
Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, a member of the three-member high-power committee, had made known her disagreement to the government proposal of appointing Thomas as CVC. Home Minister P Chidambaram is the other member.
Law Minister Veerappa Moily said toay that it would be wrong to say that the Prime Minister was at fault in the selection of P J Thomas for the post of Central Vigilance Commissioner.
To a question on whether the apex court ruling was an embarrassment for the Prime Minister as he was a part of the panel which selected Thomas, the Law Minister said no "illegality" has been done by the Prime Minister."There is no such illegality done by the Prime Minister. PM has been very clear...," Moily said.
The Law Minister, however, said the Government will "set right" the procedure for such appointments.
"There are some set procedures. That procedure would have been questioned (by the apex court) and we will set right the procedure for the future...," he said.
He said executive orders are challenged before the SC on many occasions and government takes corrective measures based on rulings.
"The SC passes an order. If there are any procedural things that have been commented upon, we are here to rectify and proceed further," he said.
Defending the decision of the panel to appoint Thomas despite protests by Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, Moily said whenever such appointment are considered, it is done after getting clearance from the CVC.
"Here is a case which was cleared. Whether the CVC was wrong in clearing it is a matter of debate. On the basis of that the collegium (three-member panel) had cleared it. You can't find fault with the PM..." he said in reply to a poser on the decision to select Thomas as CVC despite opposition by Swaraj.
V Narayanaswamy, MOS in the PMO said government will respect the Supreme Court verdict and take necessary steps.
CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said, the chapter does not end with the verdict and resignation of Thomas.
"Government much explain in Parliament why Thomas was selected despite objections raised by the opposition. Even during the 2G scam, it was Thomas who was the Telecom secretary ", Yechury said.
Former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanium said it is a red-letter day for our Constitution and a black day for this government.
"This one is a bigger scam than the 2G scam and the Isro scam. The government threw caution and discretion to the winds. Thank goodness we have the Supreme Court because this country is mainly being run on judicial intervention", said the former Cabinet Secretary.
