President gives assent to laws extending tenure of chiefs of CBI, ED

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 21

President Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent to the two amendments to extend the tenures of directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) up to five years.

Earlier, the chiefs of the two federal probe agencies had a fixed two years’ tenure, which can now be extended for three more years.

The Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Act (DSPE), 2021 and the Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Act (CVC), 2021 were cleared by the Parliament last week.

The two laws replace the Ordinances issued by the Centre ahead of the Winter Session of the Parliament that extended the tenures of the two chiefs.

The two laws were introduced in Rajya Sabha on December 14 by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension Jitendra Singh, and were passed by a voice vote. The DSPE Act was cleared by Lok Sabha on December 3 and CVC Act was approved by the Lower House on December 9.

Moving the DSPE law in the Upper House, Singh had said the amendments will help maintain the speed of investigation as crime methodology has become highly sophisticated, making investigation far more a difficult task.