The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Monday reiterated that the appointment of Mr P.J. Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) was an “error of judgment” and he accepted “full responsibility” for it.
Stating this in the Lok Sabha, Dr Singh also assured that the Centre would take into consideration the Supreme Court's guidelines and directions in deciding on a new CVC.
Dr Singh's remarks came after the leader of the Opposition, Ms Sushma Swaraj, pointed out that the Prime Minister's prepared
“I have no hesitation in repeating what I said in Jammu. Obviously, there has been an error of judgment and I accept full responsibility for it”, Dr Singh told Lok Sabha soon after the question hour, after Ms Swaraj's intervention on the issue.
The Prime Minister said in his suo motu statement that the Government accepts and respects the verdict of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had on March 3 quashed the appointment of Mr P.J. Thomas as Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and declared that the recommendation of the committee (comprising the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and Leader of Opposition in the House of the People) was “non-est” in law.
After Dr Singh's suo motu statement, the Opposition leaders, including the Left parties, created an uproar over the statement, stating that the explanation given by the Prime Minister was not satisfactory. It was pointed out that the statement did not make any mention about “owning up responsibility” for the CVC appointment and contained only the sequence of events beginning from the appointment of Mr P.J.Thomas as CVC.
“The Statement made by you (Prime Minister) today is different from what you said in Jammu. I was expecting that you would say the same thing in Parliament (what was said in Jammu) that you will own responsibility (for CVC appointment)”, Ms Swaraj said in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Ms Swaraj noted that the Prime Minister had on Friday last said in Jammu that in a long tenure, some mistakes do take place and that the appointment was one such mistake.
“I had immediately responded after that statement. I had said that the matter should end now. But I am surprised that you (Prime Minister) did not say here even one of those things which you said outside Parliament”, Ms Swaraj said, amid chants of ‘shame shame” by BJP members in Lok Sabha.
The Left parties were also dissatisfied with the Prime Minister's suo motu statement. Mr Basudeb Acharya of the CPI (M) said the Prime Minister should explain how the error occurred. With no response from the Prime Minister, the CPI (M) members staged a walkout.