New Delhi: The Centre Wednesday moved an application urging the Supreme Court to modify its 11 July judgement, which curtailed incumbent Enforcement Directorate (ED) chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra’s tenure till 31 July, and allow him to continue in office till 15 October.
The government made the request in view of the ongoing Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review of India’s crackdown on money laundering. The application claimed that Mishra’s continuation in office till 15 October would ensure that the review goes smoothly.
FATF is an inter-governmental body that has developed standards to prevent and combat money laundering and terror financing. About 200 countries/jurisdictions, including India, have committed to implementing those standards. The FATF conducts peer reviews of all its member countries on a regular basis to assess levels of implementation of the FATF recommendations, read the application submitted to the apex court.
India, the application added, is currently being assessed in the fourth round of mutual evaluations, which has already begun and is scheduled to be discussed in the June 2024 plenary of the FATF. The ED, being the country’s sole investigation agency probing cases of money laundering, has a key role to play in the mutual evaluation, along with other agencies such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the application said.
It is extremely essential that ED is in a state of full readiness during this period, the application stated, adding that during this period of review, agencies are often required to provide responses, statistics, case studies etc. in short spans of time and that the extension of Mishra’s tenure is needed in the national interest.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the application Wednesday before a bench led by Justice B.R. Gavai, which agreed to hear it Thursday afternoon.
On 11 July, a three-judge bench led by Justice Gavai declared that two extensions granted to Mishra were not valid. Mishra was given the first extension in November 2021 and the second in November 2022.
However, the bench at the same time upheld the constitutional validity of amendments made in 2021 to the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003, the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 and Fundamental Rules, enabling the extension of Mishra’s tenure.
According to the court, Mishra’s extension was declared as invalid on the grounds that it was against the top court’s 2021 judgement, which said he cannot be given any extension beyond November 2021.
Appointed as director of the Enforcement Directorate for an initial two-year term in November 2018, Mishra’s term expired in November 2020. In November 2020, he was granted an extension for another year on the grounds that the President modified the 2018 appointment order to the effect that the tenure was changed from “two” to “three years”.
This extension given to Mishra was challenged by the NGO Common Cause. While approving the modification, the top court in September 2021 ruled against granting more extensions to Mishra.
Notwithstanding the Supreme Court ruling, the government brought in an ordinance amending the Central Vigilance Commission Act. With it, the government vested in itself the power to extend the tenure of the ED chief for up to five years. This became the basis for the government to grant him two more extensions. However, Common Cause again moved the top court, assailing the amendments that culminated in the 11 July decision.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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