Supreme Court notice to Centre on 3rd extension to ED chief

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on a plea challenging the third extension of tenure granted to Enforcement Directorate chief SK Mishra.

A bench headed by Justice B R Gavai issued the notice and slated the hearing for after six weeks.

The notice was issued on a plea by Congress leader Jaya Thakur, who has contended that the third extension granted to Mishra was in violation of the top court's orders and is destroying the democratic process of our country.

The top court is already seized of a batch of pleas challenging the validity of the earlier extensions given to Mishra. In 2021, the top court ruled against granting more extensions to Mishra.

Mishra was first appointed as the ED Director for a two-year term in November 2018. The two-year term expired in November 2020. Since then, he has been given three extensions, with the current tenure now extended till November 2023.

The notice comes even as a batch of petitions that challenged the ordinance that allows the Centre to give extensions to the Directors of CBI and ED is pending before the Supreme Court.

"The Union of India cannot take refuge under the plea that important extensions are pending," the petition stated.

The petitioner further submitted that there are competent officers available for the post, and they are losing out because of such extensions.