Bombay Bar Association condemns ED summons to Senior Advocates Arvind Datar, Pratap Venugopal

The Bombay Bar Association (BBA) has condemned the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) issuance of summons to Senior Advocates Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal in connection with a legal opinion rendered in their professional capacity. .Defining the action as a “direct attack on the legal community as a whole,” the BBA stated that such actions undermine statutory protections guaranteed to advocates under the law."The Bombay Bar Association strongly condemns the steps taken by the ED qua the two distinguished Advocates by issuance of summons, during the course of a money laundering investigation. The issuance of summons by the ED to the two distinguished Senior Advocates, is perceived by the members of this Bar, as a direct attack on the legal community as a whole," the BBA stated in its resolution..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 notice 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.In its resolution, the BBA expressed serious concern over the summons and said that the issuance of the same itself “strikes at the very root of protections guaranteed to advocates by law in India.”The Association noted that professional legal opinions rendered as part of an advocate’s duties are protected under Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, which safeguards confidential communication between advocates and clients. It cautioned that such investigative overreach risks deterring advocates from freely discharging their professional responsibilities.."The preservation of rule of law can be achieved through strong participation from members of the legal fraternity, who are bound to feel threatened in case a summons is issued by any investigating agency to them, in connection with their professional work. The powers of the ED to investigate are statutory and the same ought to be exercised within the bounds of the entire legal framework established in India, which includes legislations viz. Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, which specifically protects Professional Communication and Confidential Communication between Advocates and their clients," it said..[Read Resolution]