SC Rules Extension By Centre To ED Director SK Mishra As Invalid In Law, Allowed To Continue Till July 31

The Supreme Court has declared the extensions of service granted to Director of Enforcement Directorate Sanjay Kumar Mishra as invalid in law.

However, the court has permitted him to continue in his role until July 31.

Earlier in May, the Supreme Court had expressed the possibility of revisiting its 2021 ruling on the extension of tenure for superannuated officers, which was made during the appointment of Sanjay Kumar Mishra as Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Last year in November, the Centre had granted a one-year extension to Sanjay Kumar Mishra, the then Director of the ED, just a day before his retirement. This was the third extension in Mishra's tenure, which was originally set to end on November 18, 2023, giving him a total tenure of five years as the ED chief.

Mishra was initially appointed as the ED Director on November 19, 2018, for a fixed term of two years. However, just before his tenure was about to end, the President retrospectively modified the previous order on November 13, 2020, and extended Mishra's tenure to three years.

A Bench of Justices B R Gavai and L Nageswara Rao, on September 8, 2021, upheld the Centre's decision to extend Mishra's tenure beyond the initial two years.

However, the Bench emphasized that such extensions should only be granted in rare and exceptional cases, especially for officers who have reached the age of superannuation. They had further stated that these extensions should be for a short period of time.