Plea in SC against ‘retrospective’ amendment of S K Mishra’s tenure as ED director
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It has contended that the order issued by the Centre extending Mr. Mishra’s tenure for another yr, was in violation of the provisions of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act, 2003.
A petition has been filed earlier than the Supreme Court looking for to quash the Centre’s choice to “retrospectively” amend the tenure of Sanjay Kumar Mishra as the director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The petition, filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan for NGO Common Cause, additionally sought a route to the central authorities to nominate a director for the company “in a transparent manner and strictly in accordance with the law“.
It has contended that the order issued by the Centre extending Mr. Mishra’s tenure for one more year, was in violation of the provisions of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act, 2003.
The petition, which is likely to come up for hearing in the coming days, has alleged that the government employed a circuitous route to ensure Kumar got one more year as director of ED by way of retrospectively modifying the appointment order itself.
Mr. Mishra, an IRS officer, was appointed ED director for two years by an order dated November 19, 2018, the plea said.
However, the central government on November 13, 2020, issued an office order in which it was stated that the President has modified the 2018 order to the effect that a period of “two years” written in the 2018 order was modified to a interval of “three years”, it stated.
“The Centre has done indirectly what could not have been done directly under the statute,” the plea stated.
The petition contended that the ED handles a big quantity of instances involving enormous corruption, many of that are politically delicate in nature, and the company’s director has powers akin to that of the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
It added that “such illegalities in the appointment of the Director of Enforcement will shake the confidence of citizens in the institution of Enforcement Directorate.”
“Such an action will be totally against the laudable principles highlighting the need of impeccable integrity of persons holding high public offices and the consequent need for insulating the said offices from extraneous influences, as enshrined by the Supreme Court…,” it stated.
ED director’s appointment is ruled by the CVC Act which supplies that no particular person beneath the rank of further secretary to the federal government of India shall be eligible for appointment for the put up and the director so appointed will proceed to carry workplace for a interval of not lower than two years from the date on which he assumes workplace, the plea stated.
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