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Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, senior member of the Bhartiya Janata party, ridiculed embattled Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas for inaugurating a seminar on 'Empowering Citizens to Combat Corruption" at Vigyan Bhavan on Thursday.
"It is amusing to note that P J Thomas,whose appointment as CVC is under a cloud, should be delivering the key note address on corruption at a seminar organized by his own department," Naqvi told rediff.com.
On Nov 30, the apex court pointed out that, since the CBI functions under the overall supervision of the CVC, it would be difficult for Thomas to objectively monitor the investigations.
The court wondered if Thomas could be objective while supervising 2G spectrum scam when he was himself had been chargesheeted in a corruption case dealing with import of Palm oil.
"Without looking into the file, we are concerned that if a person is an accused in a criminal case, how will he function as CVC," commented Chief Justice S H Kapadia while hearing a PIL filed by Prashant Bhushan. A division bench of the Delhi high court had asked some pointed questions about the role of CVC.
Thomas was Telecom Secretary at the Centre when A Raja was telecom minister.
The question making its round in corridors of power in New Delhi is, was P J Thomas made CVC to scuttle the ongoing probe, initiated by the outgoing CVC Pratyush Sinha, into the telecom scam?
"Thomas was not only an accused in the Kerala Palm oil case, he was also the telecom secretary, who master minded, along with his minister A Raja, the policy formulation, This is solid grounds not to have him as CVC, since Telecom scam is probably Independent India's biggest illicit money making enterprise," Naqvi said.
"Corruption in the Indian context can be classified into two categories-collusive and coercive corruption. While collusive corruption which is a result of voluntary collusion between public and private interests attracts more attention, the coercive form of corruption which affects the daily life of ordinary citizens does not get due attention.
Coercive or petty corruption where bribes are demanded for delivering public services to the citizens has more serious consequences as it deprives the poor and impedes socio-economic development", Thomas had said in his inaugural speech at the seminar.
In the end Thomas spoke of 'ethical standards and integrity in public affairs'."However. eradicating corruption from public life will not be possible without the constructive cooperation of the stake holders (people)" he concluded.
Asked whether Thomas is guilty of collusive or coercive corruption, Naqvi said that the fact that Thomas had been chargesheeted in a corruption case is proof that he was guilty of collusive corruption.
When asked if he had at any point of time thought of resigning from his post as the public pressure was mounting on him,"The matter is before the Supreme court of India and it would not be proper for me to say anything on this matter," Thomas said.
N Vittal, former CVC, defended Thomas and said that if the latter had resigned under public pressure, then the political leaders would have gone scot-free.