Chiefs of two very crucial central investigation agencies - the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation - now can have tenure upto five years. The government has issued two ordinances in this regard on Sunday.

First beneficiary of the law is likely to be current ED chief Sanjay Mishra. His extended tenure was about to end on November 19. Now armed with ordinance the government can extend his tenure for one more year initially. And for another year, if required, as he would complete only three years as ED chief on November 19. His earlier extension was also challenged in the Supreme Court but the court reluctantly allowed him to complete the extended tenure saying since it was done to keep in mind crucial ongoing investigations and hoped that this kind of extension would not be repeated. But now after the ordinance, the government has armed itself to extend Mishra's tenure upto two more years in theory.

The ordinances say the government can now extend the tenure of CBI and ED chief by a year three times and upto five years in total. CBI and ED chiefs are appointed for minimum tenure of two years initially. If the service of officer concerned is left even after completion of two years, he or she can continue to serve beyond two years and upto the age of superannuation. New ordinances say both ED and CBI chiefs can be given extension of a year each till they complete a tenure of five years. So in theory both of them can get three extensions of a year each.

In case of CBI, incumbent director Subodh Jaiswal hasnt even completed a year of his two-year tenure. So his case for extended tenure will come only after almost a year and half.


The ordinance is issued when the parliament is not session as it can only enact or modify laws. The government will have to get the relevant laws modified when the winter session of Parliament starts.