SC shield for lawyers against summons

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said investigating agencies should not summon advocates for merely rendering legal opinion to, or representing clients under probe.

- Suchitra Kalyan Mohanty @ New Delhi

However, the two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran clarified that if any lawyer "is assisting the client in the crime", they can be issued summons.

The top court on July 8 initiated a suo motu case after taking note that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned senior lawyers Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal for offering legal opinions during the pendency of probes against their clients. The ED had withdrawn the summons after the legal fraternity raised a hue and cry.

At the outset, Vikas Singh, senior lawyer and former Additional Solicitor General, appearing for the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and Vipin Nair, lawyer for the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA), objected to the ED's action.

"There can be a chilling effect on the legal profession if lawyers are summoned arbitrarily. If lawyers can be routinely summoned for advising clients, no one will dare provide counsel in sensitive criminal cases," Singh said.

He sought safeguards, similar to those followed by the CBI, for the ED. Singh suggested that the summoning order should come from the Superintendent of Police of respective districts and be scrutinized by a judicial magistrate before issuance.