Supreme Court initiates suo motu case over issue of investigating agencies summoning lawyers

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the investigating agencies cannot be allowed to directly summon the lawyers in relation to the cases of their clients as that would be a direct threat to the administration of justice..The Bench of Justice KV Viswanathan and Justice N Kotiswar Singh took suo motu cognizance of the issue while dealing with the plea by a lawyer who was summoned by police in Gujarat in relation to a case of his client."Permitting the investigation agencies/police to directly summon defence counsels or lawyers who advised parties in a given case would seriously undermine the autonomy of the legal profession and would even constitute a direct threat to the independence of the administration of justice," the Court said.Such an action prima facie is untenable, it added..The Court said it would require the assistance of the Attorney General for India R Venkataramani, the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta , the Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra ,President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Vikas Singh and the President of Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) Vipin Nair on the issue.It framed the following questions for consideration,1. When an individual is associated with case only as a lawyer advising the party, should the investigating agency/prosecution/police directly summon the lawyer? 2. Assuming the agency have a case where the role of individual is not of only a lawyer and something more .. even then, should they directly summon or should a judicial oversight be prescribed for such exceptional situation?.Both these issues need to be addressed in comprehensive basis because what is at stake is efficacy of administration of justice, the Court stressed.Considering the importance of the matter, the Court ordered that the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India (CJI) for appropriate directions.Meanwhile, the Court granted interim relief to the lawyer who was summoned by the police in Gujarat."There shall be a stay on the High Court order and a stay on the operation of summons and any other notices issued to the petitioner," the Court ordered..The development comes just days after a controversy broke out over Enforcement Directorate (ED)'s summons to Senior Advocates Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal in relation to an investigation involving the Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) granted by Care Health Insurance (CHIL) to former Religare Enterprises Chairperson Rashmi Saluja. Both the summons were withdrawn after Bar bodies across India issued strong resolutions against the same. The ED also then issued a circular asking its officials to not issue summons to advocates in violation of Section 132 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023..Pertinently, SCAORA had earlier written to CJI BR Gavai, urging the Court to take suo motu cognizance of the growing instances of lawyers being summoned by investigating agencies.