Supreme Court to hear tomorrow plea challenging tenure extension of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra

The plea by All India Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale, challenging the decision of the Central government to grant extension of tenure to the current Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED) Sanjay Kumar Mishra, will be heard by the Supreme Court tomorrow..A Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli had on July 11 agreed to list the case.The matter was mentioned today by Senior Advocate Basava Prabhu Patil before Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana, who agreed to list it tomorrow.In his plea, Gokhale has claimed that the extension was invalid under Section 25 of the Central Vigilance Commission Act and in gross violation of the top court's September 2021 verdict judgement in Common Cause v Union of India wherein it was held that no further extension of tenure shall be granted to the incumbent Director of the ED.In that verdict, the Supreme Court had affirmed an earlier judgement of the Central government dated November 13, 2020, which made retrospective revisions to Mishra's appointment order, increasing his term from two to three years.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 at the Supreme Court by the NGO Common Cause.The Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai held in September 2021 that the Central government has powers to make retrospective changes but it should be done only in the rarest of rare cases.The Court had also said that the tenure of Mishra, which was set to expire, cannot be extended further.After the Supreme Court's decision last year, the Central government brought in an ordinance amending the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act, empowering itself to extend the tenure of the ED Director up to five years.This has now been challenged before the top court.Another plea filed by Congress leader Dr. Jaya Thakur raising the same challenge, is also pending before the apex court.