Centre asks SC to extend ED Director SK Mishra's tenure

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Enforcement Directorate chief on November 19, 2018, and his term ended in 2020. However, the apex court curtailed his extended tenure to July 31.

The Supreme Court on July 11 quashed the Union government’s decision to grant two extensions of tenure to Enforcement Directorate (ED) chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra in 2021 and 2022, and termed these orders “illegal" because they came after a court order that said no further extensions be given to him. And while the court affirmed the Centre’s 2021 amendments to the pertinent laws to extend the tenure of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director and ED chief up to a maximum of five years, it said these could not be used to defend Mishra’s extension because its writ cannot be nullified using a law.

Mishra can continue in office till 31 July to enable the Centre to initiate a “smooth transition in the larger public interest", the court further directed. A bench, headed by Justice B.R.

Gavai, held that though the Centre has the power to continue the tenure of an ED director beyond the mandatory two-year term, it could not have granted the two extensions to Mishra in view of a September 2021 SC order in the Common Cause case, restraining any further extension to him. The 1984 batch Indian Revenue Service officer, who was granted a third extension in November last year, was otherwise set to demit office in November 2023.

Mishra’s extensions were challenged through petitions moved by Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala, Jaya Thakur, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and others. The bench noted that while the effect of the judgments of the court can be nullified by a legislative act by removing the basis of the judgment, but a specific direction issued in relation to the