Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, in a statement on Tuesday, said he had written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 20 to publicly disclose the names of persons shortlisted for appointment as Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).
Mr. Bhushan said he had further stressed in the letter that former Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chief K.V. Choudhry was "unsuitable" for this position.
The statement mailed by his office follows reports that the Prime Minister, Home Minister and Leader of the Congress party met on Monday and recommended Mr. Choudhry as the Central Vigilance Commissioner.
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He said that one of the reasons he conveyed to the PM in his May 20 letter was that “Mr. Choudhry’s name figures four times in the list of persons who visited former CBI Director Mr. Ranjit Sinha at his official residence”.
Incidentally, the Supreme Court had sought the assistance of the Central Vigilance Commission, the country's top anti-corruption watchdog, to determine a methodology for conducting an independent inquiry into whether Mr. Sinha's meetings with prominent accused persons in the coal scam has affected the CBI probe. The Commission has to report back to the apex court on July 6, 2015.
The apex court, had in its order dated May 14, found Mr. Sinha's meetings to be “completely inappropriate”.
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Mr. Bhushan explained that his May 20 letter was written after he came to know that Mr. Choudhry was a front runner for the high integrity office.
"The Supreme Court on May 13, 2015 lifted the stay on the appointment of CVC and Vigilance Commissioners (VCs), after the Attorney General appearing for the government assured the Court that the government would appoint the best person after following a credible transparent selection process," Mr. Bhushan said in his statement.
The Supreme Court hearing on May 13 was based on a petition filed by NGO Centre for Integrity, Governance and Training in Vigilance Administration, represented by Mr. Bhushan, for transparency in the CVC appointment process.
The NGO had claimed that the Centre was going ahead with the appointment of CVC and VC without giving wide publicity to the vacancies arising on the completion of tenure of the then CVC Pradip Kumar and the then VC J.M. Garg.