Centre moves Supreme Court seeking extension of ED director’s tenure, hearing tomorrow | India News

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday apprised the Supreme Court that it is moving an application seeking extension in tenure of Enforcement Directorate director S K Mishra. A bench headed by Justice BR Gavai agreed to hear it tomorrow when Solicitor General Tushar Mehta apprised the top court about the Centre’s plea.

The Centre has justified its decision to grant extensions to Mishra saying his continuance was necessary as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and steps taken by India are going to be reviewed by international watchdog, Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
In its plea, the Centre has said that any transition in leadership at the Directorate of Enforcement at this stage would significantly impair the ability of the agency to provide necessary assistance to and co-operation with the assessment team and thereby adversely impact India’s national interest.

“At such a critical juncture, it is essential to have an individual who is well-acquainted with the overall status of money laundering investigations and proceedings across the country and also the intricacies of the procedures, operations and activities of the investigating agency, at the helm of affairs at the Directorate of Enforcement. This is necessary to ensure that the assessment team can be promptly and ably assisted with necessary reports, information, statistics etc,” the Centre said.
The top court had on July 11 said that the third extension granted to Mishra was illegal and had set July 31 deadline for his tenure. The present extended term of Sanjay Mishra was to end in November 2023.
The court had held that the extension granted to Mishra was contrary to an earlier 2021 judgment rendered by a division bench of the Supreme Court in this regard.
Mishra was first appointed as the ED Director for a two-year term in November 2018. His term expired in November 2020. In May 2020, he had reached the retirement age of 60. However, on November 13, 2020, the Central government issued an office order stating that the President had modified the 2018 order to the effect that a time of ‘two years’ was changed to a period of ‘three years’.
This was challenged before the Supreme Court by the NGO Common Cause.
The Supreme Court in a September 2021 verdict approved the modification, but ruled against granting more extensions to Mishra.
After the court’s decision in 2021, the Central government brought in an ordinance amending the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act, giving itself the power to extend the tenure of the ED director by up to five years. A law was passed by Parliament in this regard allowing extensions to the tenure of the ED director for one year at a time, subject to a maximum of five years.
(With inputs from agencies)