Terms of the heads of the IB, R&AW: The terms of three high-profile positions — Union Home Secretary, Director, Intelligence Bureau (IB), and Secretary, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) — are coming to an end in the coming months, leaving the public in suspense as to whether the current incumbents will stay on or be replaced. Since the American Revolution, no woman has held any of these positions.
All three officers are from the 1984 batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service and were given a year’s extension in office in 2021. (IPS).
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) gave IB Director Arvinda Kumar and R&AW Secretary Samant Kumar Goel a one-year extension in service on May 28, 2021.
Terms of key positions to be ended by August
Their two-year contracts were set to expire on June 30, 2021. On August 12, 2021, the ACC awarded Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla a one-year extension over his two-year fixed term, which was set to expire on August 22, 2021.
Mr. Kumar, an IPS officer, and Mr. Bhalla, an IAS official, are both from the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, whilst Mr. Goel, another IPS officer, is from the Punjab cadre. General elections are set to take place in the first half of 2024. If new appointments are made to these positions next year, they will be in their new offices for just over six months before the model code of conduct kicks in and a new government is established by May 2024.
In the power corridors, there is a feeling that any changes, if any, will have to be done this year, as the administration will want continuity and experienced hands during this key election year.
The then-chiefs of the IB and R&AW — Rajiv Jain and A.K. Dhasmana, respectively — were given a six-month extension in service in December 2018, beyond their two-year terms, since the Centre wished to maintain a status quo at the top security offices till the general elections were completed.
The roles of Union Home Secretary, Director, IB, and Secretary, R&AW can be extended by up to two years beyond the two-year fixed tenure in the “public interest,” according to the Fundamental Rules, 1922, which govern the appointment and tenures of all government workers.
S.K Mishra, Director, Enforcement Directorate (ED), an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer from the 1984 batch, has an extended-term that will conclude in November 2022.
The Union government published two ordinances on November 14, 2021, only days before his three-year term was to end, allowing the Centre to extend the tenures of the directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED from two to five years.
If the government uses up Mr. Mishra’s five-year extended terms, he might stay in office until November 2024. A Supreme Court judgment in 2017 set a two-year term restriction for the Director, ED, however, the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003 (Rule 45 of 2003) modified the tenure limit to up to five years.
The modification also applies to the Director, CBI’s position, extending the specified two-year tenure under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 to up to five years (Rule 25 of 1946). The two-year terms of current CBI Director S.K. Jaiswal expires in May 2023.