President's secretary Sanjay Kothari is new Central Vigilance Commissioner
New Delhi: Sanjay Kothari, the secretary to the president, was on Saturday appointed the Central Vigilance Commissioner, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique.
The post of the chief of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the country's anti-corruption watchdog, was lying vacant since June last year after K V Chowdary completed his tenure.
"At a ceremony held today at 1030 hrs at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Sanjay Kothari was sworn in as the Central Vigilance Commissioner," the communique said.
Kothari, 63, made and subscribed the oath of his office before the president, it said. The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others.
The name of Kothari was recommended by a high-level selection panel headed by the prime minister in February. The move was then opposed by Congress that had termed the process adopted for the appointment of the Central Vigilance Commissioner "illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional" and demanded immediate scrapping of the decision.
Kothari's appointment to the top post of the probity watchdog now may further escalate a war of words between the ruling party and opposition Congress.
Reacting on his appointment, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari had in February demanded initiation of a fresh process for appointing the Central Vigilance Commissioner by inviting applications again.
"What we demand is that the entire process needs to be scrapped in its entirety, a de-novo process needs to be instituted, a fresh search committee needs to be constituted which is not conflicted. Applications need to be invited afresh," he had said.
Without naming anyone, Tewari had said that a man who is not an applicant and whose candidature was not considered by the search committee beyond the applicants and who is not shortlisted is cleared for appointment as next Central Vigilance Commissioner.
He had also pointed out that one of the applicants and shortlisted persons by the search committee was a members of the panel. Kothari, a 1978-batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, retired in June 2016 as secretary, the Department of Personnel and Training.
He was in November 2016 appointed the chief of the government's head-hunter -- the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). Kothari was in July 2017 named as the secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind.
The Central Vigilance Commissioner is appointed by the president on the recommendation of the selection committee consisting of the prime minister as its chairperson, and the home minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha as its members.
The tenure of CVC chief is of four years or till the incumbent attains the age of 65 years. Kothari will have tenure till late June next year.
The CVC can have a Central Vigilance Commissioner and two Vigilance Commissioners. At present, Vigilance Commissioner Sharad Kumar is working as the interim Central Vigilance Commissioner. After Kothari's appointment, there is still a vacancy of a Vigilance Commissioner in the commission.
Meanwhile, the central government had on Monday appointed Kapil Dev Tripathi the secretary to the president. Tripathi, a 1980 batch IAS (retired) officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, is the PESB chairman.
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BJP worker earlier arrested for alleged comments against Congress MLA dies by suicide
Bengaluru: A BJP worker, who was earlier arrested on charges of making comments against Congress MLA A S Ponnanna, has allegedly died by suicide on Friday stating that he is unable to bear the humiliation, police said.
Vinay Somaiah, who is in his mid thirties and a native of Kodagu district, died by hanging at an office here, they said.
In the purported death note recovered by the police, he has stated that nearly two months ago, he was arrested by the Madikeri police on the complaint of a Congress worker Tennera Maina in connection with certain comments that were posted against Virajpet Congress MLA Ponnanna, who is Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's legal advisor, in a WhatsApp group. Vinay was said to be the admin of the WhatsApp group.
He was subsequently released on bail.
In the death note, the BJP worker alleged that the FIR filed against him was "politically motivated" and that he and his family had to face "humiliation" which upset him.
Seeking justice, he urged that action should be taken against those named in the death note.
Police said a postmortem is underway and investigation will follow.
BJP held a protest in Madikeri demanding justice for Somaiah.
Home Minister G Parameshwara speaking to reporters here said, police will examine and investigate the case.
"Concerned DCP will investigate and based on the investigation report action will be taken. Whatever may be the reason, if any such involvement of anyone as alleged is found, it will be examined. Facts will come out during the investigation, once FIR is registered investigation will follow. Based on the outcome, whoever it is, action will be taken," he said.
Speaking to reporters in Shikaripura state BJP President B Y Vijayendra urged the Home Minister to consider the Somaiah's suicide case seriously and verify about involvement of MLA or anyone else influential in the case, and take necessary action.
Demanding justice for Somaiah's death, he warned BJP will hold strong protests if the government fails to ensure a fair probe and doesn't take immediate strict action.
"Somaiah has died by suicide alleging harassment by MLA and Congress workers in the death note, it is unfortunate and painful. I don't know since the Congress government came to power there is a kind of continuous oppression on BJP workers in the state. Unnecessarily FIRs are being registered on the party workers and they are being harassed," Vijayendra alleged.
It is said that Somaiah died by suicide because of such pressure and harassment, and he is said to have mentioned about it in the death note, the BJP chief stated and added "I urge the Home Minister to consider this case on humanitarian grounds instead of like a case linked to BJP worker. This is an example of how citizens and BJP workers are suffering under this Congress administration."
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the state’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416.)
