Centre petitions SC to "extend deadline for removing probe agency chief"
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New Delhi: The Centre has applied to the Supreme Court for a modification of the July 31 deadline it set for Enforcement Directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra's removal, days after the Supreme Court determined that the third extension granted to him was unlawful.
The Central government has requested a modification in the order and for the deadline to be extended. The petition will be heard by the Supreme Court tomorrow.
In November 2018, Mishra was appointed to head the Enforcement Directorate. His retirement was set for two years later, when he turned 60, however in November 2020, the government extended his retirement date. Two more extensions to his term followed, the most recent of which was made until November of this year.
The Supreme Court declared the third extension granted to Mishra unlawful on July 11 and ruled that it had breached a ruling from 2021. However, it permitted him to stay until July 31 after the centre voiced concerns about continuity during a peer review by the Financial Action Task Force, an organisation that monitors the financing of terrorism throughout the world. A new director for the investigation agency was to be appointed by the government.
Randeep Surjewala, the general secretary of the Congress and the person who had submitted one of the petitions in the case, alleged following the ruling that it was now obvious that the government was "misusing" its agencies to topple elected governments in states where the BJP did not control and to target opposition figures.
"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," Surjewala had 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 had alleged.