The Supreme Court of India has taken Suo motu cognizance of the practice of investigating agencies summoning lawyers who provide legal advice or represent accused individuals during criminal investigations.
The case is titled In Re: Summoning Advocates. It involves those who give legal opinions or represent parties during investigations. It will be heard on July 14. The Bench is led by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai. Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria will also hear it.
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This development follows a recent controversy involving the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which issued summons to Senior Advocates Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal. The summons were issued in connection with the ED’s probe into the grant of 22.7 million ESOPs, worth over ₹250 crore, by Care Health Insurance to Rashmi Saluja, former Chairperson of Religare Enterprises.
While Datar had provided a legal opinion on the ESOP issuance, Venugopal was the Advocate-on-Record in the matter. Following strong backlash from bar associations and the legal fraternity nationwide, the ED withdrew the summons to both lawyers.
In light of the criticism, the ED also issued a clarificatory circular. It instructed all field offices not to summon advocates except in accordance with Section 132 of the Income Tax Act. This is only allowed with the Director’s prior approval under statutory exceptions.
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