The
Supreme Court on Wednesday said that summoning legal professionals by probe
agencies to provide client information or advice they give to clients is “a
threat to autonomy of the legal profession”.
It
comes just a few days after two senior advocates of the Supreme Court were
summoned by the Enforcement Directorate over legal advice given by them to a
client. After protest by the legal community, the summons were eventually
withdrawn.
“Permitting
investigating agencies/police to directly summon defence counsel/advocates who
advise parties in a given case would seriously undermine autonomy of legal
profession and would even constitute a direct threat to independence of
administration of justice,” a division bench of the top court said.
The
petitioner in the case argued that permitting investigating agencies and police
to summon advocates who are engaged as counsels in the case or who have advised
parties infringe upon rights of advocates, apart from seriously threatening
autonomy of legal profession.
The
bench of Justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh also posed two questions
and placed the matter before Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai for
appropriate directions.
The
court also wondered that if an individual was associated with a case not just
as a lawyer but something, could they be summoned directly by the investigating
agency or was there a need for judicial oversight.
The court has also sought the assistance of Attorney
General for India R Venkataramani, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, Bar
Council of India Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, SCBA President Vikas Singh and
SCAORA President Vipin Nair in the matter.