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Supreme Court stays CVC ordinance

The Supreme Court today directed the Government of India not to implement its August 25 ordinance granting statutory status to the Central Vigilance Commission till a petition challenging its validity is disposed of.

A three-judge bench comprising Justices S P Bharucha, G T Nanavati, and B N Kirpal gave the directive when Attorney-General Soli J Sorabjee sought time to give the government his views on the matter.

The judges were hearing the challenge made by amicus curiae ('friend of the court') Anil Divan in a written submission on September 8 during the arguments in the multi-million-rupee Indian Bank scandal.

The court gave the attorney-general till October 9, when two writ petitions -- one by advocate Ashok Thakur and the other by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation -- also come up for hearing.

Sorabjee told the court he had looked into the matter and formed certain views on the ordinance. He would submit a detailed note to the government that, if accepted, would make many of the amicus curiae's grievances redundant. He therefore sought sufficient time for the purpose, especially because the prime minister will be away till October 2.

The court said it was primarily concerned with two aspects of the ordinance -- the single directive and exclusion of the word 'others', and inclusion of others in the composition of the CVC. Sorabjee assured the court it would not be presented with a fait accompli.

The single directive makes it mandatory for the CVC to seek prior permission of a 'competent authority' before investigating government officers of the rank of joint secretary and above and high-ranking officers of nationalised banks and public-sector undertakings. The court had quashed the directive when it was issued by the earlier government of H D Deve Gowda in 1996, but the August 25 ordinance has revived it.

Further, the Law Commission, after studying the court's judgment in the Jain hawala scandal, had recommended that the central vigilance commissioners should be selected from a panel of outstanding public servants and others. But the ordinance has excluded the term 'others'. Instead, it has included others not envisaged in the judgment, notably the secretary of the personnel ministry as ex-officio member-secretary.

The court also recorded the attorney-general's statement that its directions in the case of Enforcement Director M K Bezbaruah have been carried out by the government in letter and spirit.

UNI

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