Plea filed before Bombay High Court challenging ordinance extending tenure of CBI Director Subodh Kumar Jaiswal

The ordinance promulgated by the Central government to extend the tenure of Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, the Director General of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has been challenged before the Bombay High Court [Rajendrakumar V Trivedi v. Union of India & Ors.].The plea filed by former IPS officer Rajendrakumar Trivedi said that since the CBI director’s tenure is expiring only in May 2023, there seemed to be no circumstance warranting the Central government to promulgate an ordinance granting extension of tenure. Ordinance making power is not a substitute for regular law making mechanism but is only a power to be exercised under exceptional circumstances to deal with contingencies.“The promulgation of ordinance of 2021 is a classic case of impermissible legislative overruling and thereby violative of Article 14 and the doctrine of rule of law,” the plea said.It was also pointed out that Central government chose to promulgate an ordinance despite the fact that winter session was starting in November 2021..When the matter came up for hearing on Friday, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh for the CBI sought time to respond to the plea . A bench of Justices SV Gangapurwala and SG Dige allowed the same and posted the matter for hearing on November 22..The plea by Trivedi came to be filed as an application in earlier petition filed by Trivedi challenging the appointment of Subodh Kumar Jaiswal as CBI chief.The challenge in the main petition was on the ground that Jaiswal did not possess the experience in investigation of anti-corruption cases and had doubtful credibility.The Ministry of Personnel & Public Grievances had filed an affidavit opposing the plea, stating that Jaiswal possess enough experience dealing with anti-corruption cases and has no pending complaint or court case against him.Meanwhile Jaiswal himself stated that the petition was filed out of vendetta and vengeance.