By IANS,
New Delhi: P.J. Thomas, who was removed by the Supreme Court as central vigilance commissioner (CVC), will file a review petition against the judgment, his counsel said Saturday.
“The draft of the petition is ready. We plan to file it next week seeking a five-member constitutional bench to hear the case,” Wills Mathews, lawyer for Thomas told IANS.
The appointment of Thomas was made by a majority decision by three-member selection committee of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj in September last year. Sushma Swaraj had recorded a dissent note.
The decision was struck down by the apex court March 3 on the ground that the committee did not consider the chargesheet against Thomas in a corruption case in Kerala in the 1990s.
Manmohan Singh later accepted “full responsibility” for the appointment of Thomas, but said the then minister of state Prithviraj Chavan (now Maharashtra chief minister) had prepared the file of Thomas for the selection of the CVC.
Mathews said the “Union of India should have filed the review petition as the verdict involved the issue of executive powers and judicial interference in them”.
“We will wait for three-four days. If the government does not file the review petition, we will file the petition,” he said.
“It is a matter affecting the basic structure of the constitution. The most crucial aspect of this case is to involve at least five judges in this case,” he added.