Plea against ED Director's tenure extension filed to protect Congress leaders facing PMLA cases: Central government to Supreme Court

The petition before the Supreme Court against extension of tenure Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED) Sanjay Kumar Mishra has been filed with the intention of protecting Congress leaders who are facing money laundering charges, the Central government has told the Supreme Court..In a counter affidavit filed on February 24, it was submitted that the plea filed by Congress leader Dr. Jaya Thakur is meant to garner political advantage as several Congress leaders are under the ED scanner.In this regard, it was submitted that Dr Thakur did not disclose the cases of serious money laundering which Congress leaders are facing..The plea by Thakur, filed through advocate Varinder Kumar Sharma and drawn by advocates Varun Thakur and Shashank Ratnoo, has challenged the third extension granted to Mishra.Thakur submitted that it was in violation of the top court's orders and "is destroying the democratic process of our country".Mishra was first appointed as the ED Director for a two-year term in November 2018. The two-year term expired in November 2020. In May 2020, he had reached the retirement age of 60.However, on November 13, 2020, the Central Government issued an office order stating that the President had modified the 2018 order to the effect that a time of 'two years' was changed to a period of 'three years.' This was challenged before the Supreme Court by the NGO Common Cause.The Supreme Court had in a September 2021 verdict had approved the modification but ruled against granting more extensions to Mishra.After the Supreme Court's decision in 2021, the Central government brought in an ordinance amending the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act, empowering itself to extend the tenure of the ED Director by up to five years.This came to be challenged before the top court and those petitions are pending before it.In that batch of petitions, the Central government had submitted an affidavit stating that the petitions were politically motivated since the petitioners belong to political parties whose leaders are currently under the ED scanner.The government defended the extension, stating that it was done since the specialised work required to be administered by a premier agency is a continuous process, and the person leading the organisation should have a tenure of two to five years.The matter has remained pending after Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had recused from hearing the pleas last month.On November 17 2022, Mishra was given another one-year extension which has been challenged by way of this latest plea by Jaya Thakur..Justifying why the senior members in ED and CBI need to have sufficiently long tenures, the Central government stated due to the criss cross entrenchment of persons and groups involved in money laundering and anti-corruption activities, unravelling the crime and corruption nexus through the ED and CBI becomes not only complex, but also has international ramifications."Investigation of such crimes requires the two investigating agencies to have robust processes and senior personnel in position for sufficiently long tenures," it was submitted. .The government further contended that amendments to the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act extending tenure was brought in public interest and that the fixed tenure of the CBI and ED directors were not altered. .Centre also stated that there is "no embargo" to extend the tenure of CBI and ED directors beyond the stated period of 2 years.