The directive was issued by a three-judge bench, comprising Justice S P Bharucha, Justice G T Nanavati and Justice B N Kirpal when attorney general (AG) Soli J Sorabjee sought time to apprise the government of his views on the ordinance during a resumed hearing on the challenge, made by amicus curiae Anil Divan in his written submission on September 8.

Divan had submitted the same during the argument in the multi-crore Indian Bank scam.

The court granted time to the AG till October 9, when two writ petitions -- one by advocate Ashok Thakur and the other by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation - would also come up for hearing.

The AG said he would soon submit his views to the government for fine-tuning of the CVC ordinance. ``I have looked intothe matter and have certain views for the fine-tuning of the ordinance which if accepted would take care of many of the grievances,'' Sorabjee said.

The bench expressed its concern over revival of the `single directive' making it mandatory for agencies to seek permission of the competent authority before launching probe against officials above the rank of joint secretary and other high ranking bank and public sector officials. The apex court in its Jain-hawala judgement had quashed the `single directive'.

The court also asked the AG to look into that part of the ordinance which ignored law commission recommendations and made the selection of CVC open only to bureaucrats and also inclusion of others, notably the secretary personnel Arvind Verma as the ex-officio member secretary of CVC.

Sorabjee assured the court that ``there is no fait accompli'' in regard to the CVC ordinance and that he would submit his detailed views in this regard to the government.

The bench also asked Solicitor General Santosh NHegde Whether the September 9 directive to immediately reinstate M K Bezbaruah as the Enforcement Directorate chief has been complied with. Hegde replied in the affirmative.