"Vindication Of Our Stand": Congress Leader On Supreme Court Order On Probe Agency Chief

The Congress on Tuesday said the Supreme Court verdict against the two orders granting extensions to Enforcement Directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra is a vindication of its stand and a slap on the government's face.

The opposition party also demanded that an independent investigation be instituted to scrutinse all actions taken by ED after November 17, 2021, when Mishra was granted the extension.

The Congress accused the government of indulging in "open and unabashed misuse" of the office of ED Director to fulfil its "malicious political objectives" and asked it to apologise.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that the orders dated November 17, 2021 and November 17, 2022 granting extensions of one year each to Mishra are "illegal" and curtailed his tenure to July 31. The 1984-batch IRS officer was otherwise to remain in office till November 18, 2023.

It, however, affirmed the amendments of the Central Vigilance Commission Act, and the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act to extend the tenure of ED director for a maximum of five years.

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.

He said the apex court needs to reconsider the decision upholding the validity of the law on the extension of tenure of ED and CBI directors.

"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.

The Congress leader claimed that "in view of the said observation of the SC, all actions taken by ED after 17.11.2021 automatically become illegal, null and void." "Thus, we demand that an independent investigation (independent of influence and pressure of Modi Government) be constituted to scrutinse all actions by ED post 17.11.2021," he said.

The ED, "which has already faced devastating allegations to its credibility, must reject the interference of the Modi Government or risk its legacy being permanently tarnished and demolished beyond retrieval", he said.

"We had hoped that the SC would strike down the law which allows such abuses of the process to take place, but for now the SC has let it stand. Nonetheless, we will continue to expose, challenge, and fight to the fullest all such attempts as the Modi Government may launch to try and undermine our democracy and our institutions," Surjewala said.

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said his party has maintained from the beginning that the extension of tenure of the ED director is "totally illegal".

"The Congress party's stand has been vindicated. The government has been exposed today," he said.

The apex court bench of Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol said in view of the peer review being conducted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) this year and to enable a smooth transition, Mishra's tenure will be till July 31.

The bench gave the verdict on a batch of petitions, including those filed by Surjewala and TMC's Mahua Moitra and Saket Gokhale.

Mishra, 62, was first appointed the director of the ED for two years on November 19, 2018. Later, by an order dated November 13, 2020, the central government modified the appointment letter retrospectively and his two-year term was changed to three years.

"The motive was to extend the term of the ED director through illegal means. This (SC order) is actually a clear slap on the face of the government," Venugopal told reporters.

The government promulgated an ordinance last year under which the tenure of the ED and CBI chiefs could be extended by up to three years after the mandated term of two years.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)