The Supreme Court has been approached by the Central government for the extension of tenure of incumbent Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED) Sanjay Kumar Mishra who has been asked by the top court to demit office by July 31.
The matter was mentioned before Justice BR Gavai-led bench by the Solicitor General of India seeking urgent listing.
The Court agreed to the request and agreed to hear the plea on Thursday at 3.30 pm.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol had, on July 11 this year, struck down the earlier extension granted to Mishra on the ground that the same was in violation of the Supreme Court’s 2021 judgment.
In that judgment, the top court had directed that Mishra cannot be given any extension beyond November 2021.
Mishra was first appointed as the ED Director for a two-year term in November 2018. The two-year term expired in November 2020. In May 2020, he had reached the retirement age of 60.
The Central Government however, 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 was challenged at the Supreme Court by the NGO Common Cause.
The Central government brought in an ordinance amending the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act, empowering itself to extend the tenure of the ED Director up to five years after the Supreme Court’s decision last year which was later challenged before the top court.