New Delhi, Oct 27 : IRS officer Sanjay Kumar Mishra was on Saturday appointed the new chief of the Enforcement Directorate in an additional capacity, a government order said.

Mishra, a 1984-batch Indian Revenue Service officer of the Income Tax cadre, has been appointed as the Principal Special Director in the agency and has been entrusted with the additional charge of ED Director for three months.

Mishra will take over from incumbent Karnal Singh whose tenure at the agency ends on Sunday. Singh, a 1984-batch IPS officer of Union Territories cadre, will complete an over three year tenure as the ED Director.

Official sources said Mishra, posted as chief commissioner of Income Tax in Delhi at present, has not been empanelled as an additional secretary in the central government and hence has been given the top ED charge in an additional capacity.

He is expected to be empanelled soon and subsequently will head the ED in a regular capacity, they said.

The ED director post is an additional secretary rank post in the Union government.

The ED enforces two major laws in the country to check black money the criminal Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.

Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.

Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.

An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.

The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.

A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.

Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."

"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.

"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.

A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.