SC extends ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra's tenure till September 15
New Delhi, Jul 27: The Supreme Court on Thursday granted an extension of tenure to Enforcement Directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra till September 15 but made it clear there will be no further extension.
The Centre was seeking an extension in Mishra's tenure till October 15.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol said it was granting the extension in "larger public and national interest" but that Mishra will cease to remain ED chief from the midnight of September 15.
During the hearing, the top court questioned the Centre for seeking an extension and asked if the entire department is "full of incompetent people" except the incumbent chief.
"Are we not giving a picture that there is no other person and the entire department is full of incompetent people?" the bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre.
The top law officer argued that the continuity of the ED leadership is necessary in view of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) peer review whose rating matters.
Mehta said Mishra is "not indispensable" but his presence is necessary for the entire peer review exercise.
Representing the ED, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju said, "Some neighbouring countries want India to fall into FATF's 'grey list' and therefore, the ED chief's continuity is necessary".
The bench was hearing the Centre's application seeking the continuance of Mishra's tenure till October 15.
The top court had on July 11 held as "illegal" two successive one-year extensions granted to Mishra and said the Centre's orders were in the "breach" of its mandamus in the 2021 verdict that the IRS officer should not be given further term.
It had also curtailed Mishra's extended tenure to July 31 from November.
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Central Drug Regulatory Authority finds samples of Shelcal 500, Pan D spurious
New Delhi (PTI): The Central Drug Regulatory Authority has found samples of four drugs, including widely used calcium supplement Shelcal 500 and Pan D, as spurious, while samples of 49 drugs were listed as not of standard quality.
The samples of 49 drugs include paracetamol, Pan D, calcium and vitamin D3 supplements, Oxytocin, Metronidazole and fluconazole as "Not of Standard Quality" in its monthly drug alert report for September.
Some of the batches of drugs which have been listed as not of standard quality are by companies like Alkem Health Science, Aristo Pharmaceuticals, Camila Pharmaceuticals, Innova Captain, Hindustan Antibiotics and Ipca Laboratories.
Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi said the inspections are carried out periodically to bring down the percentage of less efficacious drugs.
"Vigilant action and monitoring of drugs by CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) drastically brings down the percentage of less efficacious drugs," he said.
"Out of nearly 3,000 samples tested, 49 drugs were asked to be recalled as they were found less efficacious (NSQ). Only nearly 1.5 per cent of the total drugs sampled found to be less efficacious," Raghuvanshi said.
The failure of a drug sample of any specific batch to meet the quality standards does not mean that all drugs being sold by that name are sub-standard. Only that specific batch is considered not of standard quality, an official source said.
The Central Drug Regulatory Authority in its August report had listed samples of over 50 drugs, including widely used paracetamol, Pan D, calcium and vitamin D3 supplements and anti-diabetes pills as "Not of Standard Quality".
