NEW DELHI: On Thursday, Supreme Court extended the tenure of ED Director SK Mishra till September 15, 2023.
A three-judge bench led by Justice BR Gavai allowed the extension and said there won't be any more extensions. Justice Gavai said that Mishra would cease to be ED director at midnight of 15-16 September.
During the hearing, the top court questioned the Centre for seeking an extension and asked if the entire department is "full of incompetent people" except the incumbent chief.
“Are you not giving a picture that your entire department is full of incompetent persons and that your department has only one competent person and that you cannot function without one person? Is it not demoralising the entire force? Suppose I am the CJI & I am not able to continue, will the SC collapse?” Justice Gavai, the presiding judge of the bench asked SG Tushar Mehta.
The court said that after its July 11 ruling of declaring his extensions as “illegal”, it would not have entertained the centre’s application seeking an extension of tenure in “ordinary circumstances”. The bench ruled that the court would not entertain any applications in this regard further.
Seeking an extension against the backdrop of the ongoing FATF review, SG Tushar Mehta said that it was not that Mishra was “indispensable”, but his continuation as ED chief is required till October 15 since the ongoing process requires exchange of communication, consultation etc.
Representing the ED, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju said, "Some neighbouring countries want India to fall into FATF's 'grey list' and therefore, the ED chief's continuity is necessary".
The bench was hearing the Centre's application seeking the continuance of Mishra's tenure till October 15.
The top court had on July 11 held as "illegal" two successive one-year extensions granted to Mishra and said the Centre's orders were in the "breach" of its mandamus in the 2021 verdict that the IRS officer should not be given further term.
It had also curtailed Mishra's extended tenure to July 31 from November.