IRS officer Rahul Navin in-charge ED chief; Sanjay Mishra steps down

New Delhi: Sanjay Kumar Mishra's term as head of the Enforcement Directorate ended on Friday following which IRS officer Rahul Navin was named as the new director in charge, officials said.

According to a formal order, Navin, an IRS officer from the 1993 batch, will maintain the charge until the appointment of a regular director or until further orders. The ED's special director at the moment is Navin.

The order stated that the President "is pleased to order the cessation of tenure of Sanjay Kumar Mishra...as Director of Enforcement in the Enforcement Directorate on 15.09.2023."

On July 26, the Supreme Court granted an extension of tenure to ED chief Mishra till September 15 but made it clear there would be no further extension.

The SC order came days after it had held as "illegal" two successive extensions of one year each granted to ED director Mishra, an IRS officer of 1984 cadre, saying these were in "breach" of its mandamus in the 2021 verdict that the IRS officer should not be given further term.

The 1984-batch IRS officer was otherwise to remain in office till November 18, 2023, according to the notification issued by the government.

The verdict on a batch of petitions, including those filed by Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala and Jaya Thakur, and TMC leaders Mahua Moitra and Saket Gokhale, challenging the extensions granted to Mishra.

Mishra was first appointed the ED director 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.

With PTI inputs