New Delhi, July 10: India’s Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to senior lawyers over legal advice provided to their clients, a move that has sparked concerns over the independence of the legal profession.
The matter is scheduled to be heard on July 14 by a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, Justices Vinod K. Chandran and N.V. Anjaria – the court’s first working day after its summer recess.
The action follows a representation by apex court bar associations warning of a “chilling effect” on the independence of legal practitioners and the overall justice delivery system. The Supreme Court Bar Association and other legal bodies had raised alarm after senior advocates Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal were summoned by the ED for their professional advice to clients. The summons were later withdrawn.
In an earlier hearing on June 25, the top court had expressed concern over investigative agencies directly summoning lawyers, calling such practices “prima facie untenable” and a threat to the autonomy of the legal profession. The observations came during the hearing of a case involving a Gujarat-based advocate who was summoned by police after securing bail for a client in a financial dispute.
“This is not just about one lawyer. It is about protecting the legal system,” the court said at the time.
Justice K.V. Viswanathan, who headed the earlier bench, noted that allowing such summons would undermine the ability of lawyers to discharge their duties fearlessly and could erode the independence of the judicial process.
The court has posed two key questions: whether probe agencies can directly summon and interrogate lawyers over professional advice, and whether judicial oversight should be required when the role of a lawyer goes beyond traditional representation.
The matter has now been referred to Chief Justice Gavai, with the court seeking the assistance of Attorney General R. Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Bar Council of India Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association representative Vipin Nair, and Supreme Court Bar Association president Vikas Singh.
“Legal profession is an integral component of the process of administration of justice,” the court observed, affirming that lawyers are protected by statutory provisions as officers of the court. The case is expected to have far-reaching implications for the legal community and the functioning of India’s justice system.
