Extension Of Tenure Of ED Director Who Has Already Superannuated Is Wrong : Dave Argues In Supreme Court

"It was very wrong for the government to extend the tenure of the officer who had already superannuated. Right to be considered for promotion is a fundamental right. It is a constitutional right. The Government cannot exercise its power in a manner which will hurt so many people. We have come here under public law. The appointment should be constitutionally & legally proper. You can't do that," submitted Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave before the division bench of Justice LN Rao and Justice BR Gavai.

To refute the Solicitor General's yesterday's contentions questioning the bona fides of the petitioner, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave commenced his arguments by referring to various judgments and submitted that, "It is alright for my friend to say that we're running parallel govt but we're intending to stop parallel constitution being run."

The efforts of Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan were lauded when the judgments in the PJ Thomas and 2G cases came, Dave submitted.

Contending that Parliament didn't want the officers to continue beyond a period of 60 years, the Senior Counsel submitted that, "Parliament did not want these officers to continue beyond a period of 60 years. This is not that provision which gives power to the govt to extend the Director of Enforcement. Rule 56 was not amended. Arguments if accepted will result in havoc only for 1 man. It will play complete havoc & i accept your lordship to not accept the submissions by Govt of India. It would give power to the government to even appoint anyone beyond the age of 60 years too."

Background

Mishra was appointed as the Director of ED vide order dated November 19, 2018, and his mandatory two years tenure prescribed under the CVC Act came to an end on November 18, last year. His tenure had however been extended for one more year by the impugned Office Order dated November 13, whereby the 2018 amendment Order for appointment had been amended such that the period of 'two years' written in that order has been modified to a period of 'three years'. Thus, in effect, Mishra has been given an additional one year of service as Director, Enforcement Directorate.

This extension was challenged in a writ petition filed by the NGO 'Common Cause'.

Case Title: Common Cause v. Union of India

Also Read: There's No Statutory Cap For ED Director's Term, Argues Solicitor General; Supreme Court Reserves Judgment

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