New Delhi, November 17

Enforcement Directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra’s term in office was on Wednesday extended for a year until November 18, 2022, or until further notice.

The extension came within days of the government promulgating two ordinances to extend the tenures of ED and CBI chiefs from two years to up to five.

After the chiefs of the two probe agencies complete their initial tenures of two years, they can be granted annual extensions for three more years. This is Mishra’s second extension. He was to retire on Thursday.

His first extension order came in November last year, inviting a legal challenge in the Supreme Court from NGO Common Cause. Mishra’s extension was made possible under The Central Vigilance Commission Amendment Ordinance 2021 promulgated on Sunday.

The ordinance is bound to lead to a massive Opposition-government faceoff in the winter session of Parliament, which begins on November 29, with the Opposition alleging misuse of agencies for political purposes. Last month, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had alleged the ED, CBI and NCB were being used to target the Opposition. Earlier, the Congress had questioned the arrest of Punjab MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, saying ED was being used as an election department to revive the political fortunes of the BJP in Punjab. Congress veteran and former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda is already facing an ED probe in an alleged scam related to the allotment of an industrial plot allotment in Panchkula. — TNS