New Delhi | The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed a voice vote to extend the service tenure of directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Act, 2021 and the Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2021 both amend existing laws to give a one-year extension to heads of agencies for up to five years.
Replying to the long debate, Personnel and Training Minister Jitendra Singh said that there was a detailed discussion on these bills.
Citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high regard for CBI and ED, he said that they should work independently and together.
Explaining the process of granting an extension of one year each to the CBI director, the minister said that it would be decided by a constitutional body comprising the prime minister, the single largest party, or the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
“We have fixed the tenure of these posts, as it was not fixed in the past. Extensions were given many times during the previous governments as well. Through this bill we have fixed the limit of five years,” he said.
Responding to a question as to why the ordinances were issued just two weeks before the winter session, he said that with the experience of the previous session, in which the opposition had protested heavily. The government was not sure whether the session would go smoothly or not.
Earlier, initiating the discussion on the Bills, RSP member N.K. Premachandran said the Supreme Court has repeatedly reiterated that the government should refrain from granting extensions to officers. He said the apex court has also made it clear that the power to make laws rests with the Parliament and not the President or the Governor.
Congress member Manish Tewari appealed to the government to approach the Supreme Court and ensure the legality of the CBI.
BJP’s Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said the long-term implications of the bills are good and urged the opposition to support them.
Opposing the bill, Supriya Sule of NCP said, “You (BJP’s) allies have cases against them. When they were your allies, there was no case against them, but as soon as they left you, all the cases started. His house was raided, his associates were raided. Please stop this vengeful business.”
He also said that the Enforcement Directorate raided the residence of former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh seven times. He asked what was missed in the first six times? He also alleged that the agencies were questioning the family members of those involved in the case and also questioning the reason behind it.
BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab questioned the move to introduce an amendment bill regarding the tenure of CBI and ED directors, while Trinamool Congress’ Saugata Roy said the current ED director was due to retire on November 17 and exactly three days from his retirement. First, the government brought an ordinance.
He accused the ED and CBI of appeasing political masters.
AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi opposed the bill, saying that the fixed tenure cannot be at the will and will of the government and if extended on good behavior, it creates an inbuilt mechanism of control. He said that both the directors (CBI and ED) should be subordinate to the present government.
CPI(M)’s A. Arif, BSP’s Ritesh Pandey, Trinamool’s Kalyan Banerjee and Shiv Sena’s Vinayak Raut also spoke out against the bills.
