india

Updated: Apr 25, 2020 13:43 IST

Retired IAS officer Sanjay Kothari, who was secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind, took oath as the new Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) on Saturday, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a communication.

The post of CVC, autonomous anti-corruption watchdog, was lying vacant since June last year and Vigilance Commissioner Sharad Kumar was holding the interim charge of the top post since then.

Kothari, an officer from the 1978 batch from Haryana, was named as new CVC by a high powered committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February this year. In the same meeting, ex-Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka was appointed as the next Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).

“At a ceremony held today at 1030 hrs at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Sanjay Kothari was sworn in as the Central Vigilance Commissioner,” the Rashtrapati Bhawan communication said.

At the time of his appointment, Congress floor leader in the Lok Sabh, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who was in the selection panel along with Prime Minister Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah had opposed the decision.

The Congress had then termed the process of appointing the CVC as “illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional” and demanded immediate scrapping of decision.

The CVC is a statutory body and derives its powers from Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2013. It is free of control from any executive authority and has the responsibility of monitoring all vigilance activities in the Central government besides advising various authorities in planning, executing, reviewing and reforming their vigilance work. A major part of its work is to refer important corruption activities to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CVC was instrumental in removing former CBI Director Alok Verma from the post in January 2019 after allegations of corruption were levelled against him in 2018.

All the Central Vigilance Officers (CVOs) in government departments submit reports to the CVC and operate on the basis of guidelines/circulars issued by the CVC.