Can the new Chairman be appointed without clearance by the Chief Vigilance Commissioner
The saga of SVasudeva’s appointment as Chairman, ONGC seems never-ending. The powerful business house with an interest in the businesses of ONGC and the Tilakdhari brothers (as they are known in ONGC circles, see gfiles’ April 2011 issue) are hell-bent on getting their chosen candidate into the post. The term of AK Hazarika, the ad hoc Chairman and Managing Director, ends on April 30. It is learnt that if his term is not extended again for three months, he will not work under an officer much junior to him.
Vasudeva was apparently prevented from stepping into the post on February 1owing to allegations of impropriety. Then, according to sources, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) finally cleared his appointment last month. The file reached the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (PNG) from the CVC on March 27 and has been with the Minister, Jaipal Reddy, since.
Former PNG Secretary S Sundareshan reportedly pursued Vasudeva’s case with the CVC. Interestingly, former CVC PJ Thomas did not clear Vasudeva’s file until he resigned in early March. Sources say a reluctant Sundareshan was pressured by the powerful business house and the Tilakdhari brothers to get the name cleared and asked the Additional Secretary, Oil, Sudhir Bhargava, to pursue Vasudeva’s case with the CVC once again. Bhargava wrote to the then CVC Secretary, KS Ramasubban (Sundareshan’s batchmate) on March 11. Ramasubban set Vasudeva’s clearance in motion. It was his last signature before retiring on March 19. Now Vasudeva’s file will move to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by the Prime Minister.
The moot question is, how can the file be cleared by the CVC when the post is vacant. The Secretary to the CVC is not empowered to clear the name of any official to be appointed or promoted as head of the Commission. The CVC Act of 2003 says on page 6, Section 10 (1) (Sl no 4): “In the event of the occurrence of any vacancy in the office of the Central Vigilance Commissioner by reason of his death, resignation or otherwise, the President may, by notification, authorize one of the Vigilance Commissioners to act as the Central Vigilance Commissioner until the appointment of a new Central Vigilance Commissioner to fill such vacancy.” Till date, the President of India has not nominated anybody as acting CVC.
In fact, the DO letter no 22/41/2005-EO(SM-II), dated March 23, 2006, from the then Cabinet Secretary, BK Chaturvedi, emphasized the issue of valid CVC clearance. It stated that the Prime Minister had, in the ACC, taken note of incomplete proposals being put up for approval. In terms of the direction of the ACC conveyed vide DoPT OM NO 3/1/2005 –EO (SM-ii), dated August 23, 2005, proposals seeking approval of the ACC should be sent only after obtaining IB/CVC clearances, and proposals which are “subject to clearance” should be placed before the ACC only in very rare cases.
Further, Chaturvedi states vide point no 3C of the letter (Sl no 3): “I would, accordingly, request the systems be put in place to ensure that all requirements are completed before any proposal is sent to ACC. To ensure that decisions by ACC are not delayed, I have advised EO that incomplete proposals may not be accepted from FY 2006-07.”
It is clear that the EO in DoPT should not accept the incomplete papers of officers. The movement of Vasudeva’s file by the Secretary, PNG, thus violated the directions of the Cabinet Secretary.
