Retired bureaucrat Sanjay Kothari was sworn in as the next Central Vigilance Commissioner by President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday at an official oath-taking ceremony.
Photographs released by the Rashtrapati Bhavan showed strict physical distancing protocols being followed in seating of guests including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, who attended the ceremony.
President Kovind administered the oath wearing a face mask.
“At a ceremony held today at 1030 hrs at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Shri Sanjay Kothari was sworn in as the Central Vigilance Commissioner. He made and subscribed the oath of his office before the President,” an official communiqué said.
Mr. Kothari, a 1978 Haryana cadre IAS officer, has been formally appointed more than two months after a High Powered Committee (HPC) headed by Mr. Modi selected him as the next CVC.
However, the Congress leader in the Committee, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, had objected to Mr. Kothari’s appointment on the ground of ‘conflict of interest’ as he [Mr. Kothari] was serving as the secretary to the President, who was also the appointing authority for the CVC.
The majority opinion in the HPC that also included Home Minister Amit Shah ruled in favour of Mr. Kothari.
The delay in his formal appointment , government sources claimed, was because of finding his replacement in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
On April 20, the government appointed retired Assam-Meghalaya IAS officer K.D. Tripathi as Mr. Kovind’s new secretary.