On Monday, the Supreme Court questioned the central government’s request to recall the September 2021 direction that prohibited extending the term of the Director of Enforcement Directorate, Sanjay Kumar Mishra, beyond November 16, 2021.
The Apex Court stated that subsequent legislative changes cannot be a basis for recalling or modifying a previous judgment or order.
The central government relied on amendments to the Central Vigilance Commission Act that permit extending the ED Director’s term for up to five years, while the amendment itself is in question before the Two-judge bench of the apex court, comprising Justice B R Gavai and Justice Vikram Nath.
The Centre had extended the tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra by 1 Year and the Supreme Court had issued notice to Centre in Plea challenging the CVC Amendment Act: Extension of ED Director’s Tenure in Question.
The Solicitor-General emphasized that the petitions were based on the September 8, 2021 judgment in the Common Cause vs Union of India case. In November, the government filed an application to modify the order that prevented further extensions to Mishra, citing the subsequent amendment to the CVC Act.
He further informed the bench that, “I am not discussing merits. I just want to submit that the petitioner’s reliance on this court’s order, we have already moved for necessary modifications to the order. The court has issued notice on this.” After explaining the context, he requested the bench to consider the government’s application along with the batch of petitions.
SG Tushar Mehta informed the court that the government required additional time to file a reply. However, the petitioner’s counsel argued that the government had been routinely asking for time to respond.
Despite this, the counsel stated that he had no objections to the time given to the government by the court. He added, But a decision needs to be made quickly as the court’s order is being disregarded completely.
Subsequently, the matter was listed to be heard alongwith M.A. No. 1756/2022 in W.P.(C) 1374/2022 on 27.02.2023.
On a related note, the amendment to the Central Vigilance Commission Act has been the subject of challenge recently in at least eight separate public interest litigations before the Supreme Court.
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