The supreme court on Monday asked the centre to put before its bench the file on the appointmnet of central vigilance commissioner (CVC) P J Thomas.

"We would first like to see the file”, said the constitutional bench headed by chief justice S H Kapadia. The bench which also comprised of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar wants to satisfy itself if the file substantiated and indicated that all the procedure of consultation has been properly adhered to by the centre in the appointment. The appointment of the CVC is made after obtaining the recommendation of a committee consisting of the prime minister as the chairman
and the home minister and the leader of the opposition as members.

The bench also sought to know whether Thomas stood out as an extraordinary civil servant as required to be appointed as CVC.

Calling it the ‘touchstone’ on which the entire matter depended, the apex court has given the centre two weeks to file its reply. It was hearing a petition filed by Delhi based Centre for Public Interest Litigation.

The petition questioned Thomas’ integrity on the grounds that he is charge sheeted in a corruption case and is still an accused. CVC Thomas was charge-sheeted in the palmoleine export scam when he was secretary, Food and Civil Supplies in the state of Kerala and the court proceedings against him are still on. He is out on bail.

His appointment as head of the anti corruption watchdog had created controversy with the opposition party BJP even accusing he was appointed to cover up the alleged 2G spectrum scam. Thomas is a former telecom secretary.