Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Dec 11: The Supreme Court on Monday requested the Central government’s response to a petition challenging the third extension given to Sanjay Kumar Mishra, the current director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The government was given notice by a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath, and the case was set for hearing in six weeks.
According to the argument made by Congresswoman Jaya Thakur, who was represented by the attorneys Varun Thakur and Shashank Ratnoo, the third extension granted to Mishra was against the highest court’s directives and ‘is damaging the democratic process of our country.’
The validity of the earlier extensions granted to Mishra is currently being contested in a number of petitions before the Supreme court.
In a September 2021 decision, the Supreme Court decided against giving Mishra any further extensions.
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Mishra was initially chosen as the ED Director in November 2018 for a two-year term. In November 2020, the two-year tenure came to an end. He would be 60 and be eligible for retirement in May of 2020.
On November 13, 2020, the Central Government, however, published an office order in which it was said that the President had modified the 2018 order, changing the time period from ‘two years’ to ‘three years.’ The NGO Common Cause argued against this before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court while approving the modification, had ruled against further extensions. While approving the change, the Supreme Court had decided against future extensions.
