Supreme Court News: Justice SK Kaul recuses himself from hearing the matter of extension of tenure of ED Director

Supreme Court judge Justice SK Kaul on Friday recused himself from hearing petitions challenging the amended law allowing extension of up to five years for the ED director. Although the judge did not give any reason for his decision announced in the court, the Supreme Court had made it clear last year that no further extension would be granted to Mishra. A bench of Justices Kaul and A S Oka was hearing a batch of petitions on the contentious issue of extension to the heads of the Enforcement Directorate.

Justice Kaul ordered that the matter be heard by a bench in which he was not involved. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan, appearing for the petitioner, told the bench that the Center has given one-year extension to Sanjay Kumar Mishra while the matter is pending in the court. To this, the bench said that since the counsel for one of the parties has shown urgency on the matter, it may be placed before the CJI.

According to an official order, the central government on Thursday granted a fresh one-year extension to Indian Revenue Service officer Mishra for the third time. The notification issued by the government said that the 1984 batch IRS officer would be in office till November 18, 2023. Mishra, 62, was first appointed director of the ED on November 19, 2018, for a two-year term. Later, by an order dated November 13, 2020, the Central Government modified the letter of appointment and their two-year tenure was changed to three years.