From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday held as illegal the third extension given to the term of Enforcement Directorate chief SK Mishra for violating the mandate of its 2021 judgment in the Common Cause case that he should not be given further extension. He was allowed to continue till this month end, taking into consideration the concerns expressed by the Centre regarding smooth transfer of power and peer review of international body FATF.
The Court also upheld the amendments made to the Central Vigilance Commission Act and the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act which allow the Centre to extend the terms of the heads of ED an CBI up to five years.
A three-judge bench of Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath, and Sanjay Karol heard the batch of petitions challenging Mishra’s appointment as well the recent amendment to the Central Vigilance Commission Act. The petitioners included Congress leaders Jaya Thakur, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, and party spokesperson Saket Gokhale. The bench had reserved its judgement in May.
The bench broadly considered two issues – first, regarding the validity of the amendments; second, the validity of the extensions given for Mishra’s term. While ruling in favour of the Union in the first issue, as regards the second issue, the Court held that the extensions were clearly in the teeth of the Common Cause judgment.
“Although the basis of a judgment can be taken away, the legislature cannot annul the specific mandamus that barred further extension…That would amount to sitting in appeal over judicial act”, Justice Gavai stated while pronouncing the operative parts of the judgment. Therefore, the orders dated November 17, 2022 granting extension to SK Mishra for a period of one year each were held to be illegal.
