CVC PJ Thomas to quit before Monday?

Pressure has been mounting on Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) PJ Thomas to resign from his post before Monday, sources have told CNN-IBN.

There is also a strategy being worked out of asking him to seek retirement from the Indian Administrative Service, the sources added.

Till now Thomas has been defiant and maintained that he would not resign from the post of CVC.

"Government has appointed me as CVC. I am continuing as CVC," he had said on Wednesday.

Over the last two weeks, Parliament has been totally paralysed over the 2G scam. Since Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj had even put up a dissenting note when thomas was appointed as the CVC, the opposition is using the CVC controversy to target the government.

" This just shows that the government cant even deal with the CVC. This is a government of scams," said Arun Jaitley.

Thomas' appointment as the CVC has been controversial because he has been chargesheeted in the palmoline export scam while serving as Kerala's secretary in the State Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies. Even his tenure as secretary in the Department of Telecommunications is clouded in controversy as he is alleged to have covered up the 2G spectrum scandal.

The Supreme Court had on November 22 questioned Thomas' controversial appointment as the CVC. The apex court had asked how Thomas would work as CVC since a chargesheet naming him was still pending in a criminal case.

The apex court on Tuesday had also questioned the tenability of Thomas supervising the investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the 2G spectrum scandal as he himself was telecom secretary at the relevant point of time.

A bench of justices GS Singhvi and Ashok Kumar Ganguly pointed out that since the CBI functioned under the over all supervision of the CVC it would be difficult for Thomas to objectively monitor the investigations.

The 60-year-old officer was appointed to the CVC's post by a three-member panel headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but not before the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, gave a dissenting note.