NEW DELHI: Responding to opposition criticism that extension of the tenures of the CBI and the ED directors was an attempt to create a pliable enforcement, Union minister Jitendra Singh said the extensions will be given by the same high-powered panel that selects the director of CBI and comprises Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and the leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha.
Singh said the opposition cannot question the competence of the high-powered panel in deciding “public interest” behind The Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and The Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2021. He said the enabling provisions for extensions in three instalments of one year actually cap the total tenure of directors at five years which otherwise would be open-ended. “The government should be complimented for this instead of criticised,” he said.
Amid vociferous allegations from all Opposition parties that the Bills are improper, the Lok Sabha passed them with the government defending them as initiatives to create international standards of transparency and continuity at the helm, and debunking the protests as personal grievances arising out of corruption exposes against political leaders. Replying to the debate dominated by stinging comments from Opposition benches, Singh said the need for a longer tenure is to create stability and continuity at the top of the organisations so that there were high standards of confidentiality and competence.
Singh’s defence came after Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Manish Tiwari of Congress, A Raja of DMK, Kalyan Banerjee and Saugata Roy of TMC, Vinayak Raut of Shiv Sena and Supriya Sule of NCP, Ritesh Pandey of BSP and Asaduddin Owaisi of MIM among others tore into the government for what they alleged was malafide intent to capture the already compromised enforcement agencies.
“You are putting the two directors on probation, on a tight leash, with a hidden quid pro quo,” said DMK leader Raja. Tiwari said the Bills were part of the BJP regime’s efforts to dismantle all systems of checks and balances over seven and half years. “You are dangling a carrot before an officer, do as we say...It will only strengthen the perception that CBI, ED, I-T are frontal organisations of BJP to harass the Opposition,” Tiwari said.
