The Centre on Sunday moved an ordinance to extend the tenure of Enforcement Directorate (ED) director and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director to five years. Currently, the chiefs of ED and CBI were appointed for a period extending up to two years.
The ordinance, named as the Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, has been brought by the Centre days before the start of the Winter Session of Parliament, which is scheduled to begin from November 29.
President Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent to the ordinance. The central government is expected to table a law in the Parliament to replace the same.
In the failure of a law being enacted, the ordinance would lapse in a period of six weeks.
A Supreme Court bench - headed by Justice LN Rao - recently gave a judgment in the case linked to the extension of Enforcement Director SK Mishra, stating that "extensions should be given only at extraordinary circumstances".
Country's apex investigative agency - CBI is currently headed by 1985-batch IPS officer Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, who was appointed in May 2021 for a two-year period.
