As was widely anticipated when government issued ordinance to empower itself for extending tenure of directors of Enforcement Directorate and Central Burrau of Investigation upto five years, on Wednesday, government issued order extending tenure of ED chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra by a year.

Mishra was initially appointed for a fixed tenure of two years as is mandated in the law. Then government last year extended his tenure for a year amending the original appointment order which said his appointment is for three years. This was challenged in the Supreme Court. Supreme Court reluctantly allowed extented tenure of Mishra but added it was an exception. Now government changed the laws governing appointment of ED and CBI chiefs taking the ordinance route, since parliament was not in session and empowered itself to extend tenures of ED and CBI chiefs upto five years by giving three extensions of one year each.

If government had waited till the winter session ot parliament to bring law, Mishra's tenure would have been over by then. He was supposed to leave office on November 18. Hence it took the ordinance route

Mishra is a 1984 batch Indian Revenue Service office. As of now he will remain ED chief for four years after serving the current extension. And he can get another extension for a year under the amended law.

His case is likely to come under review of the Supreme Court again.

And the ordinance the likely to come under fire from opposition benches for sure in the winter session. But opposition lacks fire powet to stall the government in the parliament.

Enforcement Directorate comes under the ministry of finance and handles probe into changes of money laundering and foregin exchange regulation violations.