Supreme Court notice to Centre on pleas against extension to ED chief

New Delhi, August 2

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre on petitions challenging a law allowing extension of tenure to the Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) up to five years, and the Centre’s decision to grant one-year extension to Sanjay Kumar Mishra, its director.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana posted the matter for hearing after 10 days.

There are eight petitions challenging the extension to Mishra, including those filed by Congress leaders Jaya Thakur and Randeep Singh Surjewala; TMC leaders Saket Gokhale and Mahua Moitra; and Krishna Chander Singh, Vineet Narain and Manoharlal Sharma.

The Centre had on November 17, 2021, extended the tenure of Mishra by a year, days after it brought ordinances to allow ED and CBI directors to occupy the office up to five years. Mishra is a 1984-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Income Tax Department cadre.

The petitioners contended that the extension to Mishra was invalid under Section 25 of the Central Vigilance Commission Act and went against the Supreme Court’s 2021 verdict on the issue.

While upholding the extension to Mishra and the Centre’s power to grant extend tenure, the top court had on September 8 last year said the extension of tenure to officers after superannuation should be done only in rare and exceptional cases.

A reasonable period of extension can be granted to facilitate the completion of ongoing investigations only after reasons were recorded by the Committee constituted under Section 25 (a) of the CVC Act, it had said, adding that such an extension to the director should be for a short period.

8 petitions filed by Cong, TMC leaders

• Pleas challenging Mishra’s extension were filed by two leaders each of the Congress and TMC and others
• On November 17 last year, the Centre extended Sanjay Mishra’s tenure by a year
• Days before, it brought ordinances to allow ED and CBI directors to occupy office up to 5 years