Tenure of CBI director, ED chief extended up to 5 years; President signs new ordinances

President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday promulgated two ordinances that allow extension of the tenure of the Central Bureau of the Investigation Director and Enforcement Directorate chief up to 5 years. The present tenure of the central government agency chiefs is two years.

The two ordinances -- the Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 and the Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 -- come ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament which will get underway from November 29. 

The Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 states that provided that the period for which ED chief holds the office on his initial appointment may, in the public interest, on the recommendation of the committee under clause(a) and for the reason to be recorded in writing, be extended up to one year at a time. It further states that no such extension shall be granted after the completion of tenure of five years, including the period mentioned in the initial appointment.

The ordinances come two months after the Supreme Court held that the Enforcement Directorate can be appointed for a period of over two years as per the procedure listed under Section 25 of the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003. On September 8, the bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai had upheld the Centre's power to extend the tenure of the ED chief beyond the period of two years.

Currently, the CBI is helmed by 1985-batch IPS officer Subodh Kumar Jaiswal. He was appointed in May 2021 for a two-year period. The ED, on the other hand, is headed by IRS officer Sanjay Kumar Mishra. The tenure of Mishra, who was appointed to the post in November 2018, was extended by a year in November 2020. The central government is expected to try and get the Parliament's nod for the two ordinances. If the Centre fails in this process, the ordinance would lapse in a period of six weeks. 

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• CBI Director
• Centre
• Enforcement Directorate
• Ordinance
• Parliament
• President Ram Nath kovind
• Winter Session