ED-CBI Directors' Tenure To Increase. Two Important Bills To Be Introduced In Rajya Sabha Today

In the law governing the CBI, the extension of service provisions of the Director and investigation in states and Union Territories for certain offence categories would be expanded.

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Parliament Session 2021: The winter session of Parliament is underway. Today, Union Minister of Personnel, Jitendra Singh will introduce the Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill 2021, and the Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Bill 2021 in the Rajya Sabha for consideration and passage. The Bills seek to extend the tenure of the directors of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to a maximum of five years.

Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021:

The Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021 is scheduled to be introduced today to curb corruption and economic irregularities. The Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was already introduced in the Lok Sabha. The Bill proposes to extend the tenure of the Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from the current two years to five years. The Bill has been replaced by an Ordinance in this regard.

Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2021: 

The Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2021 would be introduced to replace the ordinance introduced in this regard recently. In the law governing the CBI, the extension of service provisions of the director and the scope of investigation in states and union territories in certain offences would be increased.

Opposition says move was “arbitrary”

The opposition however termed the move as “arbitrary” and “without any logic.” 

Reported by ANI, Congress member Manish Tewari had said, “Any democracy is as strong or as weak as the institutions that support it... Unfortunately, over the last seven-and-half years, this government has made every attempt to dismantle the system of checks and balances which are intrinsic to our constitutional scheme." 

Whereas Supriya Sule of the NCP raised concerns and said, “We have taken one small step to address all these issues and we will be taking more and expect support on those also."