How can accused be Vigilance chief: SC

The government on Monday placed the file relating to the appointment of P J Thomas as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner in the Supreme Court, which had questioned how he would function in the post in view of a pending criminal case against him.
"Without looking into the file, we are concerned that if a person is an accused in a criminal case how will he function as CVC," a Bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia observed after Attorney General G E Vahanvati placed the file in a sealed cover.


The Bench said it will go through the file and posted the matter after two weeks.
"We will sit together and go through the file," the Bench also comprising Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar said.
The name of Thomas figures in the chargesheet filed in a palmoleine export case.
After the file was placed before it, the apex court Bench said it would like to know whether the eligibility criteria of impeccable integrity has been met.