The Central government moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday, seeking an extension of the tenure of the current Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED), Sanjay Kumar Mishra, who was directed by the apex court to step down from his position by July 31,2023.
The matter was brought up before a bench led by Justice BR Gavai, with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta seeking an urgent listing.
The Court granted the request and scheduled a hearing for Thursday at 3.30 pm. Previously, on July 11 of this year, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice BR Gavai, Justice Vikram Nath, and Justice Sanjay Karol, invalidated the earlier extension given to Mishra, citing it as a violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment in 2021.
According to the 2021 judgment, Mishra could not be granted any extension beyond November 2021.
Initially appointed as ED Director for a two-year term in November 2018, his term ended in November 2020. Despite reaching the retirement age of 60 in May 2020, the Central government issued an office order on November 13, 2020, 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 modification was challenged by the ‘NGO Common Cause’ in the Supreme Court.
In September 2021, the Top Court approved the modification made by the President but disallowed further extensions for Mishra. Subsequently, the Central government introduced an ordinance amending the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act, granting itself the authority to extend the ED Director’s tenure for up to five years. The parliament later passed a law enabling extensions for the ED Director’s tenure for one year at a time, up to a maximum of 5 years.
This new provision was also challenged in the Top Court.
On July 11, the Supreme court upheld the amendments made by the legislature to the CVC Act, giving the Central government the power to extend the tenure of the ED director for up to 5 years. However, it invalidated the extension granted to Mishra, stating that it contradicted the 2021 judgment.
Consequently, the Central government was directed to appoint a new director by July 31, 2023.
