Surjewala moves SC challenging ordinances extending tenures of CBI, ED chiefs

Surjewala termed the ordinances as 'abuse of power'

Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Thursday approached the Supreme Court against the Union government's ordinances extending tenures of heads of Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation from two to up to five years.

He challenged the validity of Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, and the Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, of November 14 along with the Personnel Ministry's November 15 notification.

The development allowed the government to extend the tenures of ED, CBI chiefs, as also of the defence, home and foreign secretaries.

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Terming the ordinances as "abuse of power", the Congress leader contended that these violated court orders issued from time to time to ensure the independence of such institutions and that such institutions be kept away from any extraneous considerations.

"There are no criteria provided, save for a vague reference to 'public interest' for extending tenures and is in fact, based on the subjective satisfaction of the respondents. This has the direct and clear impact of eroding the independence of the investigative bodies in question," he said in the petition.

Surjewala also alleged that the extension of tenure in this "ad-hoc and episodic fashion" reaffirms the control of the Executive over investigative agencies and is "directly antithetical" to their independent functioning.

The CBI and ED directors had a fixed tenure of two years but can now be given an extension each year as long as the cumulative extension is not beyond five years from the initial date of appointment, he said.

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Alleging that they are designed to defeat a judicial pronouncement, the Congress leader said the ordinances and notification were also in flagrant contravention of the observations of this court.

"This hurried rush, of promulgating the ordinances three days before the retirement of the incumbent Director ED, is only intended to allow the government to extend the term of the said Director ED which comes to an end on November 17, 2021. This amounts to a clear abuse of power," he said.

Trinamool Congress leader and MP Mohua Moitra has also moved a petition challenging the ordinances in the Supreme Court.

The government on Wednesday extended the tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra by a year till November 18, 2022, days after the Centre brought the ordinances.

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