The Supreme Court has reprimanded the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for sending summons to the lawyers. During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta alleged that some politicians against the ED are trying to make a narrator through interviews. Chief Justice Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai objected to this and said that the judges do not have enough time to see YouTube.
According to the report of India Today, the Supreme Court on Record Association, Supreme Court Bar Association, In-House Lawyers Association and other legal bodies filed an intervention application and told the court that the ED has summoned several senior advocates after giving legal advice to its clients. The issue was that in the intervention application, the ED demanded that guidelines be prescribed to send summons to the lawyers, while the ED’s argument was that many times people also ask for advice from a lawyer to hide the corpse in cases like murder case.
While hearing the case, Chief Justice Bhushan Ramakrishan Gavai said that if a lawyer gives wrong advice to his client, then how can he send summons to him. It is necessary to determine guidelines for this. Senior Advocate Vikas Singh said that this action of ED is affecting the legal profession. Referring to other countries, he said, ‘We saw in the Turkas how the whole bar association was dissolved. We saw some similar things in China. We should not go in that direction. Some guidelines must be determined.
CJI Gawai also agreed to Advocate Vikas Singh and said that he would appoint an amicus curi and he would hear the case next week. He said that we are all lawyers. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said on behalf of ED that efforts are being made to tarnish the image of the agency. Efforts are being made to create a story against the agency. He said that politicians can also do this through interviews, sometimes the widespread comments of the court become a misconception.
On the argument of SG Tushar Mehta, CJI BR Gawai said, ‘We do not have time to read newspapers or see YouTube. I also got a chance to watch the film when I was hospitalized last week. SG Tushar Mehta said that he is not saying that the courts are influenced by any interview or neorable.
During the hearing, a lawyer said that Senior Advocate Arvind Datar was also summoned by the ED, while he was in Spain and faced a lot of mental trauma. SG Mehta interrupted the lawyer and said that as soon as the authority came to know that he was in Spain, the notification was issued within six hours that the ED had not sent summons.
SG Tushar Mehta also mentioned a case in Gujarat and said that a man had sought legal advice from a lawyer to hide the corpse after the murder. On this, CJI Gawai said, ‘That is a criminal case. That is a different case. The issue is that you have to get permission before sending summons to the lawyer.