11 Jul, 2023
Supreme Court directs slashing ED director SK Mishra’s term till July 31
Today, the Supreme Court has ordered curtailing the tenure of Enforcement Directorate chief SK Mishra till July 31 and called the extension given to him as “illegal”.
Defending its decision to extend Mishra’s tenure, in May the central government submits SC that it was due to a peer review being conducted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) this year and said he will retire this November.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre said, "This officer is not some DGP of any state but an officer representing the country in a United Nation-like body and is in the midst of something. This court must not interfere with his tenure and from November onwards, he will not be there."
"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. This man will not continue after November, 2023. Peer review was earlier scheduled to be held in 2019 but was postponed due to COVID pandemic and is happening in 2023.
"Complete evaluations of activities of the country in taking steps to curb money laundering, terror financing etc takes place for a period of 18 months. Every member country has to go through this process and India is being assessed in the fourth round of mutual evaluation," Mehta said.
The top court had said it had categorically held in its 2021 judgement that any extension of tenure granted to officers holding the post of Director of Enforcement after attaining the age of superannuation should be for a short period and clearly mentioned that no further extension will be given to Mishra.
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