SC notice on PIL against ED Director’s extension

New Delhi, Feb 15 : The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from Centre on a PIL by NGO Common Cause challenging the November 13, 2020 order which retrospectively amended the tenure of the present Enforcement Directorate (ED) Director, Sanjay Kumar Mishra.
A bench comprising Justices Nageswara Rao and Justice Ravindra Bhat, after a brief hearing in the matter, issued notice.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the NGO, submitted that according to the scheme of the act, the present Director shall have maximum tenure of 2 years, but instead, he has been given a one-year extension. Bhushan vehemently argued that this is destroying independence of the ED and contended that this has become means for harassment.
The bench told Bhushan that it is impressed with his submissions and it will examine the plea.
The plea contended that the Centre has employed a circuitous route in order to ensure Mishra gets one more year as ED Director by way of retrospectively modifying the appointment order dated November 18, 2018, itself. The NGO has made the Department of Revenue (under the Ministry of Finance), the present ED Director, and the Central Vigilance Commission respondents in its plea.
The plea filed by the NGO has sought direction for quashing November 13 order along with a direction to the Centre to appoint the ED Director in a transparent manner and strictly in accordance with the mandate of Section 25 of the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003.