Thomas moves court seeking stay on CVC appointment

A day before his successor is set to be sworn in, ousted Central Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas on Wednesday moved the Delhi high court seeking a stay on the appointment of his successor Pradeep Kumar. HT reports.

A day before his successor is set to be sworn in, ousted Central Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas on Wednesday moved the Delhi high court seeking a stay on the appointment of his successor Pradeep Kumar.

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In his petition filed on Tuesday, Thomas sought the court’s direction to President Pratibha Patil against issuing any warrant of appointment to defence secretary Kumar, without first deciding on his representation to her against the judgement of the Supreme Court.

"The main ground (in the HC petition) is that the decision was delivered by a three-judge bench. We are supporting the mandate of the Constitution that it should have been by a five-judge bench," his counsel Wills Matthews said.

Thomas cited Article 145 (3) of the Constitution saying those issues connected with the interpretation of the Constitution have to be decided by a minimum five-judge bench.

"When the legality and the validity of the judgement in itself is disputed it is our humble view that only after reaching conclusion on the legality and validity of the judgement, the respondent (President) should go ahead with the appointment of new CVC," Matthews said.

The Supreme Court had on March 3 quashed the appointment of Thomas as CVC, as a chargesheet was pending against him in a corruption case in Kerala.

Thomas was appointed as CVC in September 2010.