THE LONGER TERM ROW

Two weeks before commencement of the winter session of Parliament, the Union government, on November 14, passed an ordinance to extend the tenures of the directors of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) up to five years. Both posts had a fixed tenure of two years, irrespective of the retirement age of 60.

- Kaushik Deka

Apart from amending the Delhi Police Special Establishment (DPSE) Act and the Central Vigilance Act (CVC) to enable this, the Centre has also amended the Fundamental Rules of Central Civil Services, introduced in 2005, giving itself powers to extend the tenures of the defence secretary, home secretary, director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) by up to two years. These officers too have a maximum tenure of two years.

Opposition leaders have cried foul over the timing of the government’s move. “An ordinance to extend the tenures of the CBI and ED chiefs just before Parliament convenes raises doubts about the Centre’s intentions,” says Manoj Jha, Rajya Sabha leader of the RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal). On November 17, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra moved the Supreme Court, challenging the ordinance as a violation of the apex court’s past judgments on the tenures of CBI and ED chiefs. The same day, the government extended the tenure of ED director Sanjay Kumar Mishra by a year. He was to retire on November 18.

While government sources assert that such extensions are needed to maintain continuity in high-profile investigations, Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala claims that the purpose of the three-year extension is to keep certain bureaucrats as heads of their departments till the 2024 Lok Sabha election so that probes against opposition leaders can be managed through pliable officers. “The ED has become the election department of the BJP and the CBI is now the ‘Compromised Bureau of Investigation’,” says Surjewala.