SC to hear petitions challenging Centre's decision to extend tenure

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will hear on March 21 the petitions challenging the Centre's decision dated November 17, 2022, whereby the government had extended for the third time the tenure of director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Sanjay Kumar Mishra.

A bench of justices BR Gavai and Aravind Kumar listed the matter for March 21.

Last week, the Centre in its affidavit defended its decision to extend the tenure of the ED director and said that petition challenging it is motivated and urged the top court to dismiss the plea.

The Central government submission came on an affidavit filed countering the submission of the petition challenging the extension of the ED director.

Centre informed the SC that the petition is clearly motivated by an oblique personal interest rather than any public interest litigations.

The Centre also said that the petition is a misuse of Article 32 of the Constitution, which is clearly being filed in a representative capacity for and on behalf of the President and the office bearers of the Indian National Congress, who are being investigated by ED and are otherwise fully competent to approach respective courts for appropriate statutory relief and remedy under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Centre said the petition has been filed for espousing the cause of her political masters when there is nothing barring the concerned persons who are under investigation from approaching the competent court for any appropriate relief.

Centre submitted that the present Writ Petition, styled as a Public Interest Litigation, is clearly motivated and is admittedly intended to scuttle the legitimate statutory investigation being carried out by the Directorate of Enforcement against certain politically exposed persons.

Centre said that the real motive of the petition is to question the investigation being carried out against the President and certain office bearers of the Indian National Congress Party Centre submitted that it is a well-known fact that the menace of corruption, black money and international financial crime and its intricate links with drugs, terrorism and other criminal offences pose a serious threat to national security and the stability of the financial systems of our country.

Further, corruption in public life often has the consequence of the economic and social rights of common people being violated.

Centre said these facts in reply to a petition filed by the General Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee Jaya Thakur through advocate Varun Thakur and advocate Shashank Ratnoo.

The petitioner Jaya Thakur has said the extension has been granted despite the matter being subjudice and initial adverse order against the respondent ED Director SK Mishra in another petition filed by activist Jaya Thakur in the Supreme Court of India.

The petitioner has challenged the Centre decision dated November 17, 2022, whereby the govt has extended the third tenure of the director of Enforcement Directorate SK Mishra.

The petitioner said that democracy is a part of the basic structure of our Constitution and rule of law and free and fair elections are basic features of democracy. "The respondents destroyed the basic structure of democracy by misusing the enforcement agencies against the political opponent.

The Supreme Court in a number of the cases held that appointment in Enforcement Agencies must be fair and transparent manners if their appointment will be done in biased nature, then they can be used as tools," the petition said.