New Delhi, Apr 21 (PTI) The Union government on Monday appointed five special directors, including four IRS and an IPS officer, in the Enforcement Directorate (ED), an official order said.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) cleared the names of Viplav Kumar Choudhry, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1997-batch AGMUT cadre apart from T Sankar and N Padmanaban, Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers of the Income Tax cadre from the 2003 and 2005 batches, respectively.

Rajnish Dev Barman and Manu Tentiwal, IRS officers from the Income Tax cadre belonging to the 1999 and 2003 batches respectively, were also appointed by the ACC.

The ED has eight sanctioned posts of Special Director (SD) who head its regional offices located in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Chandigarh and those in Delhi lead special units at the headquarters in Delhi. The federal probe agency currently has three special director rank officers.

The SDs report to the ED Director and supervise field investigation work done by Additional Directors, Joint Directors and other subordinate officials.

With these appointments, the agency will have full strength at these posts.

Rahul Navin, a 1993-batch IRS officer of the Income Tax cadre, is the ED Director at present.

The ED, that functions under the Union finance ministry, enforces the criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) and the civil sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). PTI NES NB NB

Enforcement Directorate leadership appointments restore senior investigative capacity and supervisory structure across regional offices. The Union government appointed five Special Directors to the Enforcement Directorate, restoring the sanctioned complement for that rank; the appointees include IRS and IPS officers approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. Special Directors head regional offices or lead special units, report to the ED Director, and supervise field investigations. The ED operates under the finance ministry and enforces the criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, and the civil sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.