NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to Centre on a plea for a direction to take urgent steps to appoint Vigilance Commissioner and Central Vigilance Commissioner, pending for months despite the advertisements by the government.

The plea filed by NGO 'Common Cause' through advocate Prashant Bhushan also sought a direction to the Union government to forthwith place all details and documents regarding the selection process and appointments in Central Vigilance Commission in the public domain as directed in the case of Central Information Commission as per the Supreme Court judgement in 'Anjali Bhardwaj & Ors v Union of 
India & Ors' (2019).

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka sought a response from the Centre in the matter as the plea sought an order for timely and transparent filling of long-pending vacancies in the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), to ensure that the commission can effectively discharge its duties as an ‘integrity institution’.

The plea said no appointments have been made, though in anticipation of a vacancy due to arise in October of 2020, the advertisement was issued by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) on July 17, 2020.

Similarly, anticipating vacancy that was due to arise in June 2021, DoPT on May 4, 2021 invited applications for filing the post of the Central Vigilance Commissioner with the last date of application being June 7, 2021, however, no appointment has been made pursuant to this advertisement as of date.

The petitioner also said the Supreme Court in the 2011 judgement in 'Centre for PIL v. Union of India' had issued directions to ensure transparency and integrity in the process of appointment of CVC members.