Karnal Singh gets additional charge of ED Director

New Delhi: Senior IPS officer Karnal Singh was on Wednesday given additional charge as chief of Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved assigning the additional charge of the post of Enforcement Director to Singh, a 1984 batch IPS officer of union territories cadre, for a period of three months, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training said.

Singh is now working as Special Director, Centre Region in ED, under the Department of Revenue.

On August 3, ACC had extended the charge of ED Director held by Heavy Industries Secretary Rajan S Katoch for three months beyond July 31 but it has now been curtailed.

That was the third extension given to Katoch, a 1979-batch IAS officer.

Katoch was handling the top ED charge in an additional capacity since August 2014 after he was promoted and appointed as the Heavy Industries Secretary.

Upon his elevation, he was asked to hold ED Director's charge till January, 2015 after which he was given an extension to continue in the post till April 30.

ACC again issued an order and extended his stint in the agency till July, 2015.

An IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, Katoch has been heading ED for about three and half years now after he was first appointed in March 2012.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had recently written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking appointment of a full- time Director for the central probe agency.

ED is mandated to enforce two of the most stringent laws in the country -- Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to check black money and hawala trade cases.