Enforcement Directorate

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is a law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India.[1] It is part of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government Of India.[2] It is composed of officers from the Indian Revenue Service, Indian Corporate Law Service, Indian Police Service and the Indian Administrative Service as well as promoted officers from its own cadre. The total strength of the department is less than 2000 officers out of which around 70% of officials came from deputation from other organizations while ED has its own cadre, too. Assistant Enforcement Officer are recruited for ED cadre, these officers are the only departmental staff that serves the ED. AEOs are promoted to various levels of the hierarchy and they are the backbone of this small department. The origin of this Directorate goes back to 1 May 1956, when an ‘Enforcement Unit’ was formed, in Department of Economic Affairs, for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947. In the year 1957, this Unit was renamed as ‘Enforcement Directorate’.[3] 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.[4]

Enforcement Directorate
Enforcement Directorate logo
AbbreviationED
Agency overview
Formed1 May 1956 (1956-05-01)
Legal personalityGovernment agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionIndia
Governing bodyGovernment of India
Constituting instruments
Specialist jurisdictions
  • Anti corruption.
Operational structure
HeadquartersNew Delhi, India
Minister responsible
Agency executives
  • Sanjay Kumar Mishra, IRS, Director Enforcement
  • Simanchala Dash, IRS, Principal Special Director
Parent agencyDepartment of Revenue, Ministry of Finance
Website
enforcementdirectorate.gov.in

Objective

The prime objective of the Enforcement Directorate is the enforcement of two key Acts[5] of the Government of India namely, the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 (FEMA) and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA)

The ED's (Enforcement Directorate) official website enlists its other objectives which are primarily linked to checking money laundering in India. In fact, this is an investigation agency so providing the complete details on public domain is against the rules of GOI.

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 Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Panaji, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna and Srinagar.[6] These are headed by a Joint Director.

The Directorate has sub-zonal offices at Bhubaneshwar, Kozhikode, Indore, Madurai, Nagpur, Allahabad, Raipur, Dehradun, Ranchi, Surat, Shimla, Vishakhapatnam and Jammu[6] 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.[7]

See also

References
  1. "Official Website".
  2. "ED (Enforcement Directorate)". Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018.
  3. "Organisational History". Enforcement Directorate.
  4. "Sanjay Kumar Mishra may get a full charge of Enforcement Directorate". 27 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018 – via www.thehindu.com.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "ED (Enforcement Directorate)". Directorate of Enforcement. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018.
  7. "ED website - FAQ". directorateofenforcement. Archived from the original on 7 September 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
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