Mr. P. J. Thomas has been appointed as the new Central Vigilance Commssioner. He was sworn in at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar were among those present on the occasion. Mr Thomas's name was cleared by a selection committee comprising the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister. The BJP boycotted the ceremony. Earlier BJP leader Mrs Sushma Swaraj had given a dissent note on the selection of Mr Thomas. However, the Prime Minister on Monday defended the appointment. He told a group of editors that the best candidate out of the list of three had been chosen.