The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought response of the Centre and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in 10 days on a batch of petitions challenging the law providing extension of tenure up to five years for Directors of Enforcement Directorate (ED) and CBI.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli issued notices to the respondents, including the Centre, CVC and the present ED Director, based on as many as eight petitions, including the ones filed by Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala and Jaya Thakur and TMC's Saket Gokhale.
Lawyer M L Sharma claimed to have filed the first petition on the issue. Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for Surjewala, referred to the apex court judgements and said the fixed tenures are the “hallmark of independence” and the fact that an incumbent may get an extension will “demolish” the independence of the office.
Surjewala's plea has challenged the amendment made by the Central Government to the fundamental concept decided by the apex court in two judgements in the Vineet Narayan and the Common Cause cases which were on fixed tenure.
"...This amendment basically puts the incumbent on a fiduciary kind of pattern where one year, two year and three year extension at the discretion of the executive can be achieved.
The amendments provide that you can get extensions piecemeal,” he said. The fact that an officer can get the extension in itself demolishes the independence, he added.
During the hearing, the bench was informed about the appointment process of the ED Director under the CVC and the FEMA laws. Singhvi said unlike the CBI, the committee, which appoints ED Director, comprised only the executive.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankarnarayanan, appearing for one the petitioners, said the present ED Director would be completing four years in the post this year, and an ordinance was promulgated a few days before his retirement on November 18 last year extending his tenure by a year more.
The Centre had on November 17, 2021 extended the tenure of ED chief Sanjay Mishra by a year till November 18, 2022, days after the Centre brought ordinances to allow the ED and CBI directors to occupy the office up to five years. Mishra is a 1984-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Income Tax (IT) cadre.