ED’s employee strength goes up by 50% over four years

Mukesh Ranjan

New Delhi, August 2

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is currently in the thick of public discourse for its high-voltage action against political leaders, has seen a substantial increase in the number of officials taken on board since incumbent Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra took over the agency in 2018.

Before Mishra became the ED’s chief, the agency had five Special Directors and 18 Joint Directors. Most of them were from the Indian Police Service. Sources in the government say the agency now has nine Special Directors, three Additional Directors, 36 Joint Directors and 18 Deputy Directors. It is almost a 50% rise. Officials in the ED are taken on deputation from across the central and state governments.

The sources say in the past four years, a new trend has emerged. The preference for deputation in the ED is now given to officials from the Income Tax, Directorate General of GST Intelligence and Customs and Excise Departments. All these departments function under the Ministry of Finance.

In the past four years, the ED has also expanded its physical presence in several states, including Meghalaya, Karnataka, Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim, by setting up new offices.

The latest one is the agency’s office at Mangaluru in Karnataka, which was set up in September 2021 and is headed by a deputy director-rank officer having jurisdiction over 15 districts of the state. The ED also established its first office in Meghalaya in August last year, which functions under the zonal office-II located in Guwahati and is headed by a deputy director-rank officer. It set up its first office in Manipur around the same time. A similar sub-zonal office was established by the ED in Agartala, Tripura.

The ED is probing high-profile cases across states, including Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi. The agency has also strengthened itself in terms of manpower. It has been active in carrying out its mandate, which includes enforcement of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, and Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018.

Expansion under Director Mishra

• Sanjay Kumar Mishra took over as the Director as the Enforcement Directorate in 2018
• Before he took charge, the agency had five Special Directors and 18 Joint Directors
• Most of them were from the Indian Police Service
• The agency now has nine Special Directors, three Additional Directors, 36 Joint Directors and 18 Deputy Directors, which is almost a 50% rise in staff strength