The Central Vigilance Commission was set up by the Government in February, 1964 on the recommendations of the Committee on Prevention of Corruption, headed by Shri K. Santhanam, to advise and guide Central Government agencies in the field of vigilance.
It got statutory status in 1998 by promulgation of an Ordinance by the President. In 2003, the Central Vigilance Commission Act came into effect.
CVC is conceived to be the apex vigilance institution, free of control from any executive authority, monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government and advising various authorities in Central Government organizations in planning, executing, reviewing and reforming their vigilance work.
The CVC is headed by a Central Vigilance Commissioner and has two Vigilance Commissioners.
Supreme Court Frames Guidelines To Designate Lawyers As Senior Advocates
In News
The Supreme Court has laid down the framework for the basis on which lawyers should be assigned the designation of senior advocates.
These guidelines will be applicable to all High Courts and the Supreme Court and will usher in transparency in the process of designating lawyers as senior advocates.
The court's judgment was on a PIL filed by senior advocate Indira Jaising in July 2015, in which she termed the present system of senior designation as arbitrary, non-transparent and discriminatory. She had asked for the system to be made more democratic.
A permanent committee will be set up in the Supreme Court and in the high courtsto look into the applications by advocates.
The 'Committee for Designation of Senior Advocates' will comprise the chief justice, two senior judges, the attorney general or the advocate general as the case may be, and an eminent member of the bar.
The committee will have a secretariat, which will vet the applications by going through criteria such as the number of reported judgments, years of practice, personality, and suitability.
The secretariat will publish the proposal for designation of a particular advocate on the official website of the court, inviting suggestions and views of various stakeholders.
The Committee will interview the candidate and make an overall evaluation on the basis of his/her number of years of practice, judgments (reported and unreported) which indicate the legal formulations advanced by the Advocate concerned in the course of the proceedings of the case, pro bono work done by him/her, domain expertise of the applicant in various branches of law and publications by the advocate.
After a name is considered and approved by the permanent committee, it will be put before the Full Court (involving SC/HC judges as the case may be) which will decide to accord senior designation to an advocate either unanimously or by majority, through secret ballot.
The Full Court may also recall the senior designation of a lawyer if it feels he is guilty of conduct that disentitles him to the same.
