NEW DELHI: Supreme Court Justice SK Kaul on Friday recused from considering pleas challenging the extension of the ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra's term by one more year till November 18, 2023. The order was challenged on November 17, 2021.
“Let the matter be placed before CJI for appropriate orders. I cannot take up the matter,” Justice SK Kaul said.
Accordingly, the bench also comprising Justice MM Sundresh said, “List it before a bench of which one of the judges (SK Kaul) isn’t part of the bench.”
Against the backdrop of the centre further extending Mishra’s tenure, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan urged the bench to direct for listing the petitions urgently before another bench. “The extension which has been granted yesterday tries to frustrate the petitions,” Sankaranarayanan said.
The batch of petitions had also challenged the Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Act 2021 (“impugned act”) which allows the extension of the term of the Director of the Enforcement of Directorate up to 5 years.
On September 8, 2021, the case filed by Common Cause directed that further extension should not be given to SK Mishra, whose term as ED Director was to end on November 16, 2021.
However, contrary to the Supreme Court's direction, the Central Government extended his term by one more year with effect from November 17, 2021. This was done by way of promulgation of an ordinance to amend the Central Vigilance Commission Act to allow an extension of upto 5 years for the term of ED Director. The Ordinance was replaced with the Act which was passed in December 2021.
It has been argued in the plea filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur that it was brought solely with the intention of giving benefit to SK Mishra. It is stated that Mishra had otherwise attained superannuation after attaining the age of 60 years in May 2020. He was initially appointed as ED Director in November 2018 for a two-year period.
Despite his superannuation, in November 2020, the Centre passed an order to retrospectively amend his initial appointment to 3 years. This action was challenged in the case Common Cause vs Union of India. It was contended that the extension given to Mishra is a blatant violation of the directions of the Supreme Court.