Chief Secy to hold additional charge as Vigilance Commissioner

Chief Secretary K Shanmugam will hold full additional charge as Vigilance Commissioner and Commissioner of Administrative Reforms.
Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary K Shanmugam (File photo | Express)
Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary K Shanmugam (File photo | Express)

CHENNAI: Chief Secretary K Shanmugam will hold full additional charge as Vigilance Commissioner and Commissioner of Administrative Reforms. This follows the retirement of Mohan Pyare as Vigilance Commissioner on September 30. However, the Leader of the Opposition, MK Stalin opposed the allotment of additional responsibility.

In his tweet, he said the appointment of Chief Secretary as Vigilance Commissioner violated a Madras High Court verdict. It will hamper free functioning of Vigilance Commission. So, the appointment should be cancelled immediately and a senior IAS officer should be appointed as Vigilance Commissioner.

This is not the first time DMK is opposing the appointment of Vigilance Commissioner. When VK Jeyakodi was appointed in August 2017, party organising secretary RS Bharathi filed a public interest litigation contending that the State government had been appointing the Chief Secretary or Additional Chief Secretaries as State Vigilance Commissioners, thus making the Commission another wing of government.

Bharathi said the State government must consider the Vigilance Commission as an ‘integrity institution’ by following the Supreme Court directives in Vineet Narain and P.J. Thomas cases. In January 2018, when Mohan Pyare replaced Jeyakodi, Bharathi challenged Pyare’s appointment too. He said the Centre was appointing independent officials to head Central Vigilance Commission. In Tamil Nadu alone, the post was held by top government officials as additional charge. This made the commission lose its independence and autonomy.

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