The Supreme Court has initiated a suo motu case to consider the issue of investigating agencies summoning lawyers who provide legal advice or represent accused persons in criminal cases.
The case titled In Re: Summoning Advocates who give Legal Opinion or Represent Parties During Investigation of Cases and Related Issues will be heard by a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai and also comprising Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria will hear the matter on July 14.
The development comes close on the heels of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issuing summons to Senior Advocates Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal.
The summons was issued in the course of the ED’s investigation into the grant of over 22.7 million Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs), valued at more than ₹250 crore, by Care Health Insurance to former Religare Enterprises chairperson Rashmi Saluja.
Datar had provided a legal opinion supporting the ESOP issuance, while Venugopal was the Advocate-on-Record.
The ED later withdrew the summons to both Datar and Venugopal following widespread criticism from bar associations across the nation.
In response to the backlash, the ED also issued a circular directing all field offices not to issue summons to advocates in violation of Section 132. The central agency clarified that any summons under the statutory exceptions must now be approved by the Director of the ED.