The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) denounces the promulgation of two ordinances allowing the central government to extend the tenures of the directors of CBI and ED from two to five years.
Both the CBI and ED have been functioning as the political arm of the ruling party to advance its agenda. Leaders of opposition parties are regularly targeted. This step is meant to further subvert the autonomy of these agencies and to make the key officers more pliable.
It is reprehensible that these ordinances have been promulgated on the eve of the winter session of parliament that is to commence from November 29. The BJP’s regular resort to the route of “ordinance raj” is anti-democratic.
These ordinances also aim to bypass the Supreme Court direction which had laid down that any extension of tenure has to be for a short period and “only in rare and exceptional circumstances” to facilitate an ongoing investigation. With these ordinances the central government can now give three one-year extensions.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that these ordinances be rescinded. CPI(M) MPs will oppose the move to convert these ordinances into law in parliament.