Following the Supreme Court order on Tuesday holding the third extension granted to the Enforcement Directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra as “illegal”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah hit out at those hailing the decision saying those “rejoicing” were being “delusional”.
He asserted that the director of the central probe agency is not important, and whoever takes the role will take note of the rampant corruption “of a cozy club of “entitled dynasts” who have “anti-development mindset”.
“Those rejoicing over the Hon’ble SC decision on the ED case are delusional for various reasons: The amendments to the CVC Act, which were duly passed by the Parliament, have been upheld,” Shah said.
Powers of the ED to strike at those who are corrupt and on the wrong side of the law remain the same, the Union Home Minister added.
“ED is an institution which rises beyond any one individual and is focused on achieving its core objective – i.e. to investigate offences of money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws. Thus, who the ED director is – that is not important because whoever assumes this role will take note of the rampant corruption of a cozy club of entitled dynasts who have an anti-development mindset,” Shah said.
The apex court has set July 31 deadline for the tenure of Mishra, while saying that his third extension of the 1984-batch IRS officer was illegal, and against the direction of the top court, a bench comprising of Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol said.
The Centre had argued that its decision to grant an extension was necessary as Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and steps taken by India are going to be reviewed by the international watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Mishra was first appointed as the ED director for two years in November 2018, and later by an order in 2020, the Centre modified the appointment letter and his two-year term was changed to three. Then again, in 2022, the Centre promulgated an Ordinance under which the tenure of the ED and CBI chiefs could be extended by upto three years, after the mandated two years.
The petitions in the apex court were filed by Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala and Jaya Thakur, as well as Trinamool Congress’ Mahua Moitra and Saket Gokhale.
Following the Supreme Court order on Tuesday, Surjewala called the verdict as “victory of justice”.
“On a petition instituted by me, the Supreme Court today pronounced its judgment striking down the extensions given to the ED Chief as illegal. ED Director will have to vacate office by the end of the month. This is a victory of justice. This is a vindication of our stand on brazen misuse & compromise of #ED for political vendetta by Modi Govt for targeting political opponents as also businessmen to spread terror,” Surjewala tweeted.