Expressing serious concern over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoning advocates for advising their clients or representing them during criminal investigations, the Supreme Court on Monday slammed the probe agency for “crossing all limits”.AdvertisementWhile hearing a suo motu case to address the implications of the ED summoning senior lawyers Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal on the independence of the legal profession, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai called for guidelines on the issue.“Even if it’s wrong, the communication between a lawyer and the clients is a privileged communication. How can notices be issued against them? There should be some guidelines… They (ED) are crossing all limits,” the Bench said.Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta agreed that lawyers couldn’t be summoned for rendering legal opinions. They said the issue was taken up at the highest level and the agency had been asked not to issue notices to lawyers for giving legal advice.“The moment I heard about Mr Datar, I immediately brought it to the notice of the highest Executive,” Mehta told the Bench which also included Justice K Vinod Chandran.Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Vikas Singh said, “India should not be going the way of other countries which cracked down on the independence of the legal profession. My Lords may set it down once and for all, because the European Commission on Human Rights also has something to say. In Turkey, the entire bar association was disbanded. China also has a similar issue.”Maintaining that summoning of lawyers set a dangerous precedent, an advocate said it would have a chilling effect on the entire justice delivery system as lawyers will not be able to freely advise their clients.As the CJI expressed surprise over media reports on the issue, Mehta cautioned the Bench against attempts to malign institutions by creating false narratives.”As far as general observations are concerned, (they are) sometimes misconstrued, depending upon individual cases. I am saying this, not the ED, there is a concerted effort to create a narrative against an institution. My Lords may find in a few cases where there is overstepping…,” Mehta said.”We are finding this (overstepping by ED) in many cases. It’s not like we are not finding… We don’t watch the news, and haven’t seen YouTube interviews. Only last week I managed to watch a few movies,” the CJI responded. As Mehta referred to politicians accused in scams attempting to shape public opinion, the CJI asked him not to politicise the issue.Allowing intervention applications, the Bench asked the parties, including the SCBA, to file comprehensive notes on the issue and posted the matter for hearing on July 29. The top court took suo motu cognisance of the issue on July 13 in the backdrop of a controversy over the ED summoning senior lawyers Datar and Venugopal who had reportedly offered legal advice to Care Health Insurance Limited on the employee stock ownership plan given to Rashmi Saluja, former chairperson of Religare Enterprises.The SCBA and the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) had called it a “disturbing trend” that struck at the very foundations of the legal profession and urged the CJI to take suo motu cognisance of the matter.The top court had on June 25 disapproved of probe agencies directly summoning lawyers for advising clients, saying it was a “direct threat” to the independence of justice administration, seriously undermining the autonomy of the legal profession.
ED crossing all limits: SC on summoning of lawyers for giving legal advice
