The new CVC

It did not take the selection committee of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, home minister P Chidambaram and opposition leader Sushma Swaraj long on Saturday to zero in on defence secretary Pradeep Kumar, a career bureaucrat known for being a steady hand at the wheel, for the central vigilance commissioner’s post. After the shock of the Supreme Court order quashing P J Thomas’s appointment, it took the Centre four months to select Kumar, an IIT-Delhi alumni, as the anti-corruption watchdog. Though no official announcement was made, Swaraj said the decision was unanimous. In the case of Thomas, Swaraj had cited the pending chargesheet against the former Kerala cadre IAS officer in the palmolein case. On a public interest litigation, the SC quashed Thomas’s appointment on March 3, saying the selection panel had failed to consider all relevant material on him. Other than Kumar, recently retired home secretary G KPillai, former health secretary Naresh Dayal and railway board member A P Mishra were also considered. It is felt that the government will be comfortable with Kumar, who is not known for an adventurist streak. Pillai has been an outspoken, plain-speaking home secretary, He was also reportedly not keen about a post-retirement assignment. Kumar is due to retire as defence secretary on July 31. As CVC, he will have a four-year tenure. An IAS officer of the 1972 batch from the Haryana cadre, he has held several important appointments in central and state governments. Before becoming the defence secretary, he was secretary, defence production. He is known to be a stickler for rules and is quite reticent in his interactions with the media. Although he is praised for sticking to norms, some feel that Kumar added to the officialdom at the defence ministry that heightened red tape. Kumar has a PG degree in economics and social sciences from the University of Wales. He was the chairman of the National Highways Authority of India and also held the portfolio of additional secretary, mines and minerals.