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ED an institution that rises beyond one individual: Shah
While targeting the people who hailed the SC verdict squashing the third extension to Enforcement Directorate (ED) chief Sanjay Mishra, Union home minister on Tuesday called them “delusional”
Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday targeted people who were hailing the Supreme Court verdict squashing the third extension to Enforcement Directorate (ED) chief Sanjay Mishra, saying they were being “delusional”.
Asserting that the apex court has upheld the amendments to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act, which empowers the government to give a maximum tenure of five years to the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chiefs, Shah said that ED’s “powers remain the same”. He stressed that the work the agency does is more important than the person who heads it.
“Those rejoicing over the Supreme Court 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. Powers of the ED to strike at those who are corrupt and on the wrong side of the law remain the same,” Shah tweeted on Tuesday evening, hours after the top court judgment. He did not specify which people he was referring to.
“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,” the home minister said. “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.”
Opposition parties have repeatedly accused the ED of doing the bidding of the Centre during Mishra’s tenure -- a charge the government has denied.
Reacting to the top court’s judgment, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Tuesday said it was a “victory of justice” and “a vindication of our stand on brazen misuse and compromise of ED for political vendetta by the Modi government”.
“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.
