The Centre on Thursday extended the tenure of Enforcement Directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra for one year, just a day before his retirement date, The Indian Express reported.
This is the third time Mishra’s tenure has been extended. He was first appointed as director of the central agency in November 2018 for a period of two years.
In November 2020, the Centre issued an order to modify the two-year term mentioned in the 2018 order, to three years.
In November 2021, the Centre again extended Mishra’s tenure by a year.
The decision had been taken just three days after the government introduced two ordinances in November last year which allowed the extension of the tenures of the directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to up to five years.
Meanwhile, Opposition leaders have filed at least eight petitions in the Supreme Court against Mishra’s extension in 2021 .
On September 22, the Centre told the Supreme Court that the pleas challenging Mishra’s extension were politically motivated as they have been filed by members of the Congress or Trinamool Congress, whose leaders are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate.
Under Mishra’s tenure, the Enforcement Directorate has launched an investigation against several leaders of the Opposition such as Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, Trinamool Congress’ Abhishek Banerjee, National Congress leaders Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik, National Conference leaders Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti among others.
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