The Supreme Court made a significant decision on Thursday, granting an extension to SK Mishra, the director of the Enforcement Directorate, until September 15. Originally, Mishra’s term was set to end on July 31, following a judgment on July 11 that deemed the previous extensions provided to him as illegal.
The court, consisting of Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath, and Sanjay Karol, partially accepted the Centre’s plea for Mishra’s extended term, citing “larger public interest” in their decision. However, they also emphasized that this would be the final extension granted to him and no further applications for prolongation would be entertained.
The Centre justified the extension by highlighting Mishra’s involvement in reviewing India’s anti-money laundering mechanisms on behalf of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global peer review body.
Justice B R Gavai clarified the court’s stance, stating, “In ordinary circumstances, we would not have accepted such an application having held that the extension granted to him was illegal. We allowed him to continue till July 31 to allow a smooth transition. Taking into consideration the larger public interest, we permit the ED director to continue for some more period. We add that no further application would be entertained for grant of extension. We also direct that the respondent will cease to be the director of ED with effect from midnight of 15th/16th September 2023.”
With this ruling, SK Mishra will have a limited additional time as the director of the Enforcement Directorate, serving until the specified date and then stepping down from the position.
Post Your Comments