KT Thomas withdraws from lokpal search
With the head of the lokpal search committee, Justice KT Thomas, resigning from his position only days after another eminent member, Mr Fali S Nariman, also quit the panel, the Union Government which already on its way out should just step back from the appointment process and leave it for its successor to handle. Instead, the Congress-led UPA regime has typically chosen to brazen it out with the spokesperson for the ruling party, Mr Abhisekh Manu Singhvi, insisting that the decisions of Justice Thomas and Mr Nariman are essentially of a “private” nature. This does not even qualify as a half-truth. Of course, the decisions are individual choices, but to dismiss the fact that they are equally the result of the Congress's shameful efforts to politicise a bipartisan process only underscores the arrogance of the UPA regime, even as it lies on its deathbed. In his letter to the Prime Minister, explaining his decision to opt out of the selection process, Justice Thomas has noted that since the recommendations of the Search Committee (which he was to chair) are not binding upon the Selection Committee which is mandated to take the final decision on the nine persons who will make up the lokpal, the former serves no real purpose. Justice Thomas's complaint gains more traction when one takes into consideration the fact that the Search Committee can only make recommendations from the list of candidates sent to it by the Department of Personnel and Training. In other words, the Search Committee is only expected to rubber-stamp the Union Government's list before sending it off to the Selection Committee. This defeats the entire purpose of having a two-tier selection process involving Opposition leaders, members of the judiciary and eminent jurists. Indeed, as Mr Nariman had earlier regretted, the process only seems to be broad-based and consensus-driven but, in effect, overlooks the “most competent, the most independent, and the most courageous” of candidates.
In withdrawing from this deeply flawed lokpal selection process, Justice Thomas and Mr Nariman bring themselves on the same page as leaders of the principal Opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, all of whom have levelled the same charge against the Government: Seeking to wield undue influence in the appointment process. In this context, let us not forget how the UPA regime forcibly inducted Mr PP Rao to the Selection Committee despite the protest vote registered against him by Ms Sushma Swaraj, who, as leader of the Opposition in lok Sabha, is a member of the panel.