Supreme Court: The Supreme Court granted ED Director SK Mishra permission to serve in that capacity through September 15th. The Supreme Court had been petitioned by the Central Government to extend Sanjay Kumar Mishra‘s employment as director of the Enforcement Directorate. The Supreme Court also authorised the continuance of SK Mishra’s employment as director of the ED.
Supreme Court’s Verdict on ED Director’s Tenure Extension and Call for Legislative Changes
Notably, the Supreme Court had dealt the federal government a serious blow prior to this. The Supreme Court ruled that Sanjay Kumar Mishra’s tenure extension was invalid. The supreme court granted them till July 31, 2023, to finish their unfinished work. Additionally, a bench of Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath, and Sanjay Karol supported changes to the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act and the Central Vigilance Commission Act to increase the ED director’s term to a maximum of five years. It should be mentioned that Sanjay Kumar Mishra was chosen to lead the Enforcement Directorate on a full-time basis in November 2018. Sanjay Mishra is an Income Tax cadre officer in the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), class of 1984. He had previously been selected as the chief special director of the investigation agency. Sanjay Mishra held the position of Chief Commissioner of the Delhi Income Tax Department before to being hired by the ED.
The Turbulent Journey of ED Director’s Tenure
The central government initially granted him a one-year extension in 2020. Then, he received a one-year extension till November 18, 2021. Then, a day before his contract expired in 2021, he received another extension of service. It had happened before. Sanjay Kumar Mishra’s third service extension was authorised by the Cabinet’s Appointments Committee for a year (from November 18, 2022, to November 18, 2023), even before his second extension expired on November 17, 2022. Last year, the government passed an ordinance allowing the obligatory two-year term for ED and CBI directors to be extended by an additional three years. Various petitions were filed challenging the extension of tenure of the Director of Enforcement Directorate. In these, his service extension was held illegal.
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