Enforcement Directorate

Enforcement Directorate प्रवर्तन निदेशालय
Official emblem of Enforcement Directorate
Abbreviation	ED
Agency overview
Formed	1 May 1956 (1956-05-01)
Legal personality	Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Federal agency	India
Operations jurisdiction	India
Governing body	Government of India
Constituting instruments	Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002
General nature	Federal law enforcement
Operational structure
Headquarters	New Delhi, India
Minister responsible	Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance
Agency executive	Sanjay Kumar Mishra, IRS, Director Enforcement
Parent agency	Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance
Website
enforcementdirectorate.gov.in

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is a domestic law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India. It is part of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government Of India. The Enforcement Directorate focuses on investigating and prosecuting cases related to money laundering, foreign exchange violations, and economic offenses. Its primary objective is to curb the generation and circulation of black money and to ensure compliance with the laws concerning foreign exchange and prevention of money laundering.

In July 2022, according to data shared by the union government in Parliament, only 23 people have been convicted in 5,422 cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the 17 years after the law was passed, which is a conviction rate of less than 0.5%. Where as the national conviction rate in India for offences of the Indian Penal Code is 57.0% in 2021.

The origin of the ED goes back to 1 May 1956, when an "enforcement unit" was formed, within the Department of Economic Affairs, for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947. In 1957, the unit was renamed as the Enforcement Directorate. Sanjay Kumar Mishra former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, New Delhi was appointed as ED chief in the rank of Secretary to Government of India, from October 2018.

Objective

The prime objective of the Enforcement Directorate is the enforcement of two key Acts of the Government of India namely, the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), and The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA).

Organizational set up

The Directorate of Enforcement, with its headquarters at New Delhi, is headed by the director of enforcement. There are five regional offices at Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata, and Delhi headed by special directors of enforcement.

Zonal offices of the directorate are at Pune, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Panaji, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, and Srinagar. These are headed by a joint director.

The directorate has sub-zonal offices at Mangaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Kozhikode, Indore, Madurai, Nagpur, Allahabad, Raipur, Dehradun, Ranchi, Surat, Shimla, Vishakhapatnam and Jammu which are headed by a deputy director.

Special courts

For the trial of an offence punishable under section 4 of PMLA, the Central Government (in consultation with the chief justice of the High Court), designates one or more Sessions Court as Special Court(s). The court is also called "PMLA Court". Any appeal against any order passed by PMLA court can directly be filed in the High Court for that jurisdiction.

Criticism

In July 2022, according to data shared by the union government in Parliament, only 23 people have been convicted in 5,422 cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the 17 years after the law was passed, which is a conviction rate of less than 0.5%. The cases by ED have gone up six times in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second term, which led to accusations by opposition parties stating that ED is being misused by the BJP for their political ends. In April 2023, Supreme Court of India turned down a petition by 14 opposition parties accusing the Narenda Modi led government of misusing central agencies. In a debate in the parliament, union home minister Meenakshi Lekhi told to the opposition, "keep quiet, or ED may may arrive at your home"

Main Laws and Acts of the ED

Some major laws and acts of the ED:

Foreign Exchange Management Act , 1999 ( FEMA )

Prevention Of Money Laundering Act , 2002 ( PMLA )

Fugitive Economic Offenders Act , 2018 ( FEOA )

Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (COFEPOSA)

Internal structure

Directorate of Enforcement is having following hierarchy of the officers; Assistant Enforcement Officer-Enforcement Officer-Assistant Director-Deputy Director-Joint Director-Special Director-Director. However, with increasing workload and to adjust the hierarchical needs other designations like additional director are also introduced. Directorate recruits officers as Assistant Enforcement Officer (AEO). AEOs are promoted to various levels of hierarchy and serve the Directorate of Enforcement throughout their career however a large chunk of officers are taken on deputation at various level and they remain on temporary basis in ED for 2 to 5 years.

See also

• Central Bureau of Investigation, anti organised crime which are international, multi-state or multi-agency
• Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, anti-smuggling
• Financial Intelligence Unit, anti money laundering
• National Investigation Agency, anti terrorism
• NIA Most Wanted
• Narcotics Control Bureau, anti drug trafficking
• List of Indian intelligence agencies
• Central Bureau of Narcotics
• Directorate General of GST Intelligence

External links

• Official website