The Supreme Court of India has recently issued notice to the Central Government in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) Writ Petition challenging the Central Vigilance Commission Amendment Act, which allowed a further extension of the tenure of the ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra.
The two-judge bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice Vikram Nath seeked the response of Centre via notice returnable within six weeks.
The petition was filed by Jaya Thakur with the contention that the order extending the term of the Directorate of Enforcement Director SK Mishra is violative of the specific order in Common Cause v. Union of India & Anr as to not to extend the tenure.
The petitioner, represented by Advocate Varinder Kumar Sharma, argued that the amendment was introduced with the sole intention to extend the tenure of S K Mishra. Despite attaining superannuation, he continued as the Director for a subsequent 3 years in 2018. This was done by an order passed retrospectively by the Centre which was challenged in the Common Cause case.
The tenure was further extended by one more year, which is in challenge before the Supreme Court along with another batch of pending petitions in the same subject-matter.
The matter was listed under W.P.(C) No.001106/2022 in the Supreme Court and the next date of hearing is set to 27-01-23 tentatively.
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