Supreme Court
New Delhi: The Supreme Court expressed serious concerns over the enforcement Directorate (ED) to give legal advice during the investigation or the lawyers representing the clients on Monday, saying the ED is “crossing all limits”. The court also underlined the need to make guidelines in this regard. Chief Justice B.K. R. Gawai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran’s bench made this comment during a hearing launched by the court taking automatic cognizance to the influences of such actions on the freedom of the legal profession.
The court comment came after the ED summoned senior lawyers Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal. The Chief Justice said, “The dialogue between a lawyer and the clients is a privileged dialogue and how to issue notices against them … they are crossing all limits.”
Senior lawyers get notices
The apex court was told that big names such as senior advocate Arvind Datar were recently issued notice by the ED and this could have a negative impact on the profession of the law. To this, the Chief Justice said, “Guidelines should be prepared in this regard.”
Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the issue has been raised at the highest level and the investigating agency has been asked not to issue notice to the lawyers for giving legal advice. The Solicitor General said, “The lawyers cannot be summoned to give legal advice.” However, he said that an attempt is being made to discredit the institutions by creating false discourse.
What did the lawyers say?
The lawyers stressed that summoning the lawyers, especially to give law related opinion, is deciding a dangerous Nazir. A lawyer said, “If it continues, it will prevent lawyers from giving honest and independent advice.” He said that the lawyers of district courts are also being harassed unnecessarily. The Attorney General admitted the concerns and said, “What is happening is definitely wrong.” The Chief Justice said that the court is also surprised by such reports. However, the Solicitor General warned against making opinions on the basis of media reports. The law official said, “A planned attempt is going on to target the institutions. Please do not trust interviews and news. ”
What did the Chief Justice say?
The Chief Justice was away from court proceedings last week due to being unwell. He said, “We do not see the news, nor do we see the interview on YouTube.” Last week I was able to watch some films. “When the Solicitor General mentioned the attempt to influence the public opinion by the accused leaders in the scams, the Chief Justice said,” We had said … don’t politicize it. “Mehta said,” As soon as I heard about Shri Datar, I immediately brought it to the cognizance of the highest executive officer. “
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