New Delhi
Noting that nowadays complaints against public functionaries can’t be taken at face value, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking to quash the appointments of Central Vigilance Commissioner KV Chowdary and Vigilance Commissioner TM Bhasin.

A Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said such complaints accusing them of not having a “clean record” could be made even against “very honest persons”. It refused to interfere with the appointments, saying no grounds had been made to quash them.

“The complaints against Chowdary were made and were looked into. It is not for this court to decide on the choice,” the Bench said, rejecting the petition filed by Common Cause, which had challenged the appointments of Chowdary and Bhasin on the ground that they did not have a “clean record” and a non-transparent procedure was followed in their appointments. The petitioner had alleged that their appointments were “arbitrary, illegal and in violation of the principle of institutional integrity” propounded by the apex court.

Common Cause counsel Prashant Bhushan had alleged there were serious allegations against Chowdary and Bhasin which were not looked into by the committee before appointing them. Chowdary, a senior official of the Income Tax Department, had not taken any action in the controversial Nira Radia phone tapping case, he had alleged.