''3rd Time Extension Illegal'': Supreme Court On Probe Agency Chief's Term

The third extension of Enforcement Directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra's term by the central government was illegal, the Supreme Court said today, allowing the officer to continue till July 31. The Centre had to appoint a new chief for the probe agency, the court said. SK Mishra's extended term violates a 2021 judgment, the Supreme Court said, hearing petitions challenging the Centre's decision to extend Mr Mishra's tenure for the third time on November 17 last year.

The Supreme Court let him continue till July 31 after the Centre expressed concern about continuity in the middle of a peer review by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global terror financing watchdog.

The Centre had cited the peer review every time it extended Mr Mishra's term. In May, the government had told the Supreme Court that he would retire in November and that the petition was motivated by an "oblique personal interest rather than any public interest", for the cause of appeasing "political masters".

"This officer is not some DGP (Director General of Police) of a state but an officer representing the country in a United Nation-like body and hence parliament has taken a conscious call," said Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the Centre's lawyer, defending the multiple extensions give to the officer.

In the previous hearing in May, Mr Mehta had similarly argued: "He has been overseeing some important investigations related to money laundering and his continuity was required in the interest of the nation. He is not indispensable. Peer review was earlier scheduled to be held in 2019 but was postponed due to Covid and it is happening in 2023."

In a peer review, countries are assessed on steps taken to check terror financing and money laundering, say officials.

Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala, who had filed one of the petitions in the case in the Supreme Court, claimed that it has now become clear how the government is "misusing" agencies to target the opposition leaders and destabilise elected governments in non-BJP-ruled states.

"This is a victory of justice and vindication of our stand on brazen misuse and compromise of ED for political vendetta as also the blatant pursuit of Modi Government's desperate and obvious agenda," he said on Twitter.

"This is a serious and historic indictment of the Modi Government, which was so desperate to have its choice of ED Chief (for reasons apparent to all) that it completely disregarded all norms of justice, equity and fairness to install its 'yes man'," he alleged.

Mr Mishra was given charge of the Enforcement Directorate in November 2018. He was to retire two years later after turning 60. But in November 2020, the government gave him an extension. His term was extended twice after that.

"We find that the legislature is competent, no fundamental rights have been violated, and there is no manifest arbitrariness...extension can be granted to high-level officials such as this in the public interest and with reasons in writing," the Supreme Court said.

The court backed the amendments made to the Central Vigilance Commission Act and the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, which allow the Centre to extend the terms of probe agency chiefs by up to five years.

KV Vishwanathan, assisting the Supreme Court with the case, urged the judges to strike down the amendments in the "larger interest of democracy", expressing fear that it would be misused by future governments.

Mr Mishra's repeated extensions had provoked strong objections from the opposition, which accuses the government of weaponising the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI to target political rivals.