The Supreme Court (SC) has struck down the one-year extension given to Enforcement Directorate (ED) chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra in November 2022 and asked him to demit office by July 31 this year. This comes after the Centre extended the tenure of Mishra by a year till November 18, 2023. This is the third extension given to the 1984-batch Indian Revenue Service officer (IRS).
Who is Sanjay Kumar Mishra?
Mishra, 62, became an 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.
Extensions
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.
Why the extensions?
Following the introduction of the ordinance, a raft of petitions was filed before the Supreme Court by the Congress party and TMC functionaries like Randeep Singh Surjewala and Saket Gokhale, challenging the amendments. In September, the government told the Supreme Court that it had extended Mishra's tenure in public interest as various cases were at a crucial juncture and required proper and expeditious disposal for which it was necessary to ensure the continuity of officers.
Centre added restricting the tenure of the director of ED or CBI would be counterproductive to the country’s efforts to fight against corruption and money laundering. A newly-appointed person may take time to acclimatise to the working of the new organisation.
The top court on September 8 dismissed the plea challenging the retrospective change in Mishra’s appointment order and said that a reasonable period of extension could be given to the director to facilitate the completion of the ongoing investigations. However, the court had directed not to give further extension to Mishra as the ED director.
High profile cases
The Enforcement Directorate enforces the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Under Mishra, the central investigative agency launched a probe against several high-profile people and politicians such as Congress' Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's husband Robert Vadra.
It has also initiated actions against Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference leaders Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah.
Under Mishra’s tenure, the ED also got approval for the extradition of fugitives such as Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.
The ED has also arrested persons accused of money laundering such as former Yes Bank managing director and chief executive officer Rana Kapoor and ICICI Bank former MD-CEO Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar under Mishra’s leadership.
At present, the ED is continuing investigations against former Congress Presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case, former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi's nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey in sand mining case, former Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee and aide Arpita Mukherjee in SSC recruitment scam, and AAP leader Satyendar Jain in money laundering case.
