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Triple whammy for Govt in SC

Triple whammy for Govt in SC

Author: Kumar Uttam
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 4, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/321963/Triple-whammy-for-Govt-in-SC.html

Order makes PM's position indefensible

Caesar's wife is now a suspect. The Supreme Court's decision to quash PJ Thomas' appointment as CVC has come as a personal indictment for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose Government has, of late, been blundering on every step.

Singh had recently taken refuge in "compulsions of coalition" to defend the spectrum scam, but this time he cannot escape from personal culpability. The Prime Minister, who had personally cleared Thomas' appointment by ignoring objection raised by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, was a member of the three-member selection panel along with Home Minister P Chidambaram. Of course, there was no coalition compulsion in this case.

With the PM's image already taking a hit in S-band controversy, the SC ruling has further corroded the shield of 'Mr Clean' which Singh has always used to deflect any personal criticism.

In a stereotype, the PM responded to the SC verdict, saying, "I respect the Supreme Court verdict." Singh's response and Congress' subsequent defence of the PM were certainly not enough to pacify the Opposition, though it was equally curious to find that it stopped short of seeking Prime Minister's resignation.

While the court verdict was lapped by the Opposition, UPA ally Trinamool Congress also used the occasion to rub salt into the PM's wounds.

"The Supreme Court (verdict) is sort of an indictment. We have to be careful in the future," senior Trinamool leader Sultan Ahmed, Union Minister of State for Tourism, told the media here. He said the Government was grappling with the problem because of its dependence on the bureaucracy.

"We welcome the Supreme Court's verdict. If a mistake has been committed it has to be corrected," Ahmed said adding that the apex court has shown a path for the future.

Instead, it chose to build moral pressure on Singh by suggesting him to introspect if he was misled or he allowed himself to get misled? Singh had once said the Caesar's wife should be above suspicion -- a reference he made to blunt Opposition's fire -- and the BJP returned to the PM asking him to judge himself on the same benchmark he had set for himself.

"Sushma (Swaraj) has dissented. You and Home Minister P Chidambaram were other members in the panel, which clear the name. Who is accountable?" Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley asked the PM.

Curiously, Sushma did not attempt to score a point and restricted her comment by just saying, "The dignity of the office of CVC has been restored (after the SC verdict)."

Even BJP parliamentary party leader LK Advani felt the PM and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi were "morally responsible" for the fiasco.

"In the last 60 years, it has never happened that an appointment made by the Prime Minister himself has been declared illegal by the Supreme Court. The PM and Sonia Gandhi are morally responsible for it and they should accept this," Advani told the media here.

For the PM, criticism poured in from everywhere. CPI(M) Central Committee member Mohammad Selim said, "It is unfortunate that as an academician, economist, good bureaucrat and good Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh has to defend all sorts of dishonest acts".

CPI's D Raja felt the court decision was a "big blow" for the Union Government while his party colleague Gurudas Dasgupta said the verdict only shows that the Government has no respect for propriety, for convention, for the rules and norms."

"PM often says Caesar's wife must be above suspicion. Now that Supreme Court has quashed the appointment of CVC on the ground that relevant information relating to his involvement in a corruption case was ignored, the country is certainly entitled to know on what benchmark he is going to judge himself," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

The BJP alleged that the UPA Government wanted a "pliant" CVC as the 2-G scam is under investigation by the CBI and the CVC exercises a decisive influence and monitoring over the investigating agency. After today's verdict the Government stands "indicted", the party said.

Singh is now expected to make a statement in Parliament next week and political observers say it could only add to his woes with the Opposition readying for another round of battle, wherein the PM would be on a defensive.

Though, Government officials claim that SC verdict was not that big a blow to the Government, as it was being projected. "It setback but not such a calamity as projected by the media and that there were past precedents too where appointments were quashed by the apex court," senior officials in Government said.

Unrest in the Government camp was quite visible after the verdict. Shortly after news came in, Law Minister Veerappa Moily met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the issue. Minister of State in PMO V Narayanasamy was also present. After a brief meeting with the Prime Minister, Moily and Narayanasamy met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The Government claimed the order was not a reflection on the selection committee headed by the Prime Minister and attributed it to the 'failure of the system'.

"This is a failure of a system and we need to address that and move forward...It certainly is not a reflection on the collegium (the three-member committee which selected PJ Thomas as CVC) or the Prime Minister," Moily said.



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