Team News Riveting
New Delhi, November 14
The Directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) could now have a term of maximum of five years in office following the two ordinances brought in by the government on Sunday.
Earlier, the term of country’s two premier agencies’ chief was of two years.
The government has brought two ordinances to extend the tenures of the CBI and Enforcement Directorate chiefs to up to five years. Both the ordinances have received President Ram Nath Kovind’s nod. The chiefs of the top agencies can be given extensions every year for up to three years after they complete the two-year term.
“…Whereas the parliament is not in session and the President is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate action,” the ordinances said. It added that “…no such extension shall be granted after the completion of a period of five years in total including the period mentioned in the initial appointment.”
A Supreme Court bench – headed by Justice LN Rao – recently gave a judgment in the case linked to the extension of Enforcement Directorate chief SK Mishra, who took charge in 2018, underlining the extension of tenure “should be done only in rare and exceptional cases”.
