The tenure of Sanjay Kumar Mishra as the Enforcement Directorate chief will end on Friday, September 15. The Supreme Court had extended the ED chief's tenure till September 15 in July after the Centre had sought the extension till October 15. This was Mishra's fourth extension.
While the Centre has been demanding the extension of SK Mishra's tenure, there have been opposition to the move. During the last extension, the Supreme Court had pulled up the
Centre asking, "Are there no other competent people in the department?" The court had held as "illegal" the repeated extensions granted to Mishra. The Opposition also slammed the extension, calling it Centre's "ulterior political motive".
But who is SK Mishra, the man the Centre wants as the ED chief?
SK Mishra, 62, became an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer in 1984. He is an economic expert and is said to personally supervise big cases. Originally from Uttar Pradesh, Mishra is said to have investigated several high-level cases in Income Tax brilliantly. It is for this reason that Mishra was appointed as the chief of ED on November 19, 2018, for a period of two years. Prior to his appointment, Mishra was posted as chief commissioner of Income Tax in Delhi.
SK Mishra's extension
An order dated November 13, 2020, modified Mishra’s appointment letter retrospectively and replaced his term with three years. On November 17, 2021, the government again extended his tenure for a period of one year till November 18, 2022. The extension came days after the government introduced an ordinance that allowed the directors of ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to occupy the office for up to five years. On November 18, 2022, the Centre again extended Mishra's tenure till November 18, 2023. Then again, his term was extended for the fourth time till September 15, 2023.
First Published: Sept 14, 2023 1:14 PM IST
