SC Adjourns To May 3 Hearing On Pleas Challenging Tenure Extension Of ED Director

The Supreme Court today adjourned the hearing on pleas till May 3 challenging the amended law allowing an extension of up to 5 years for the director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The three-judge bench of Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath, and Sanjay Karol deferred the matter after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought adjournment on grounds that he was busy in the constitution bench hearing on the issue of legalization of same-sex marriage.

The bench said that “Mr. Solicitor, you make some alternative arrangements. We can’t keep the matter adjourning like this. Make some arrangements. We don’t want any impression to be carried that the government is unnecessarily delaying.”

Mehta submitted that nobody anticipated that constitution bench matters would commence when this date got fixed.

On Solicitor General’s request, the bench posted the matter for hearing on May 3.

Earlier, the top court disagreed with the Centre’s submission that petitions challenging the amended law allowing tenure extension of the Enforcement Directorate director up to 5 years shouldn’t be entertained as they have been filed by political entities facing serious money laundering charges.

It said that even if the petitioners are facing cases, they have the right to approach the judiciary for redressal of their grievances.

The top court on December 12 last sought the response from the Centre and others to a plea challenging the 3rd extension granted to ED chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra.

Previously, It issued notices to the Union of India, the Central Vigilance Commission, and the ED director on a plea filed by Jaya Thakur.

The plea accused the central government of destroying the basic structure of democracy by misusing enforcement agencies against its political opponents.

A batch of petitions, including those filed by Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, TMC’s Mahua Moitra, and Saket Gokhale, come up for hearing before the bench. According to an official order, the Union government gave a fresh 1-year extension to Mishra, the 3rd Indian Revenue Service officer, in the position.

The notification issued by the government stated that the 1984 batch IRS officer will be in office till November 18, 2023.

Mishra, (62), was 1st appointed as the director of the ED for 2 years on November 19, 2018. Later, by an order dated November 13, 2020, the central government modified the appointment letter retrospectively, and his 2-year term was changed to 3 years.

The government promulgated an ordinance last year under which the tenure of the ED and CBI chiefs could be extended by up to 3 years after the mandated term of 2 years.