As the apex court struck down the appointment holding it illegal, pressure immediately mounted on prime minister Manmohan Singh to make a statement in Parliament which is in session. However, even as the two Houses saw repeated disruptions owing to the judgment as well as the Telangana issue, Singh did not make the statement which is now expected on Monday.
“I respect the Supreme Court order. I will make a statement in Parliament”was all that the PM could tell journalists after a weekly meeting of the Union cabinet, which, however, did not discuss the court ruling. The matter came up at the Congress core committee meeting of top leaders who mainly discussed the Telangana issue.
The verdict brought pressure on home minister P Chidambaram to resign but the Congress moved in quickly to quash the demand. Chidambaram was part of a three-member high-level committee for selection of the CVC, the other two being the PM and Lok Sabha Opposition Leader Sushma Swaraj. The home minister was a strong defender of the appointment of Thomas although he blinked when Swaraj threatened that she would move the Supreme Court on the issue of her dissent note.
While the Congress conceded the selection was an error, it defended Singh and Chidambaram saying “no malafide was intended’. Speaking to Deccan Herald, law minister M Veerappa Moily admitted that it was a “systemic failure”and said the government would incorporate the suggestions and guidelines in the appointment of the CVC as suggested by the court.
The role of both the PM and the home minister had come into sharp focus after the controversy broke out with the Centre for Public Interest Litigation and a team of eminent citizens which included former chief election commissioner (CEC)J M Lyngdoh moving the apex court against the September 2010 appointment.
It is the Department of Personnel and Training which prepares the files to be placed before any committee for appointment of an officer. The PM is the cabinet minister for DoPT and when the DoPT put up the file of Thomas for selection before the three-member committee, current Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had overseen it as minister of state in the PMO.
Defending the government, Congress leaders attempted to see a silver lining in the verdict. Said a senior cabinet minister, declining to be quoted: “I admit that it is not a happy situation but the Supreme Court has not imputed motive to the appointment. Yes, we took a decision which was controversial but having done that, we could not have gone back”.