In a response to a remark asking the Supreme Court not to be swayed by the “narratives” against the central probe agency, Enforcement Directorate, Chief Justice of India B R Gavai has said the court did not watch news or YouTube interviews.
A bench of CJI Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing a suo motu case over the ED summoning senior lawyers Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal for rendering legal opinions to their respective clients.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, shared concerns and said the issue had been taken up at the highest level and the probe agency asked to not issue notices to the lawyers for rendering legal advice.
Mehta, however, pointed out attempts to malign institutions by creating false narratives.
As far as general observations are concerned, sometimes misconstrued, depending upon individual cases. I am saying this, not the ED, there is a concerted effort to create a narrative against an institution. My lords may find in a few cases where there is overstepping…,” the solicitor general said.
“We are finding this (overstepping by ED) in many cases, it is not like we are not finding,” the CJI said.
CJI Gavai, who was indisposed a week ago, added, “We don’t watch the news; haven’t seen YouTube interviews. Only last week I managed to watch a few movies.”
Rapping the ED, The Enforcement Directorate is ‘crossing all limits’, the Supreme Court said as it expressed serious concern over the agency summoning advocates for offering legal advice or representing clients during investigations.
It also called for guidelines on the matter.
A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing a suo motu case to address the implications of such actions on the independence of the legal profession.
This comes in the wake of the ED summoning senior lawyers Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal.
“Even if it is wrong, the communication between a lawyer and the clients is privileged communication. How can notices be issued against them? There should be some guidelines,” the CJI said.
The CJI continued, “They (ED) are crossing all limits.”
