SC judge recuses himself from hearing plea challenging extension of ED director

NEW DELHI, (ANI): The Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on Friday recused himself from hearing a plea challenging the Central Government’s decision of extending the term of the ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra. The court directed to list the matter before another bench of this court.

The court said that as the counsel expressed some urgency, the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate direction. One of the counsels apprised the court about the latest developments that the tenure of Sanjay Kumar Mishra has been extended to another year recently.

The court was hearing various pleas challenging the Central Government’s decision to extend the term of the ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra by one more year. Various petitions were filed in this matter.

One of the petitions was filed by social activist and General Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee Jaya Thakur, has sought to quash the order dated November 2021 passed by the Centre for further extension of tenure of Sanjay Kumar Mishra as director of the Enforcement Directorate. The petition was filed through Varinder Kumar Sharma and Varun Thakur.

The petitioner said that there are several competent officers who are eligible for consideration for appointment to the post of Director of Enforcement and they should not be deprived of the opportunity to be appointed in accordance with the procedure prescribed under the CVC Act.

“The nature of duties exercised by the Director of Enforcement would involve supervision of very important investigations. Under the guise of pendency of investigations into matters which have cross-border ramifications, the tenure of the Director of Enforcement cannot be extended periodically,” the petitioner said.

The Centre has defended its decision to extend the tenure of ED director and said that the Petition Challenging the extension of ED’s director tenure is clearly motivated and is admittedly intended to scuttle the legitimate statutory investigation being carried out by the Directorate of Enforcement against certain politically exposed persons.

The Centre also said that there is no embargo that the term of Director, CBI or ED cannot be more than two years. (ANI)