Agencies
The Supreme Court Thursday allowed Sanjay Kumar Mishra to continue as the director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till September 15, instead of the earlier July 31 deadline.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol said it was granting the extension in “larger public and national interest” but that Mishra would cease to remain ED chief from the midnight of September 15.
The Centre had on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court seeking a tenure extension for Mishra till October 15.
Before this, the Supreme Court had declared the two tenure extensions granted to Mishra beyond September 8, 2021 as “not valid in law”.
When it approached the SC again requesting an urgent hearing, the government, through Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta informed a Justice BR Gavai-led Bench that it was “compelled to approach” the “court seeking extension of the date up to 15.10.2023…in view of the ongoing FATF review, which is at a critical stage where submissions on effectiveness have been made on 21.07.2023 and on-site visit is scheduled to be conducted in November 2023”.
In a plea filed seeking modification of the top court’s July 11 verdict, the Centre reasoned that the court had earlier permitted Mishra an extension of tenure given the government’s concerns over the ongoing Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review.