President Ram Nath Kovind on November 14, 2021 promulgated two ordinances that would allow the Union Government to extend the tenures of the directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from two years to up to five years.
- The chiefs of the CBI and ED currently have a fixed two-year tenure, but can now be given three annual extensions.
- While the change in tenure of the post of CBI Director was effected by amending the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003 was amended with respect to the ED Director’s post.
About Ordinance
- Article 123 of the Constitution vests the power to issue an ordinance with the president and Article 213 with the governor of a state. The only condition laid down by the Constitution is that there should be circumstances necessitating immediate action and that Parliament should not be in session. The apex court has said that the president or the governor is free to decide whether such circumstances indeed exist.
- An ordinance under Article 123 of the Constitution shall cease to operate at the expiry of six weeks from the reassembly of the Parliament. It may also cease to operate before the expiry of the period of six weeks if a resolution disapproving it is passed by Parliament.
- The practice becomes unacceptable when it degenerates into an “ordinance raj”, where ordinances are seldom brought before the legislature but are re-issued again and again, violating the spirit of the Constitution.
- In D.C. Wadhwa and others vs State of Bihar and others, 1987, the apex court strongly deprecated this practice and termed it constitutional fraud.
- That judicial intervention would be inevitable in the case of an ordinance raj was established by the court as far back as in 1970 in its judgment in Rustom Cavasjee Cooper vs Union of India.
(Source: TH and IE)
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