SC takes suo motu cognisance of summons to lawyers for advising clients

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed a prima facie view that summoning of lawyers by probe agencies for questioning in relation to client information or advice given by them is untenable and a threat to autonomy of the legal profession.

A bench of justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh took suo motu cognisance 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. "Legal profession is an integral component of the process of administration of justice. Counsels who are engaged in their legal practice have certain rights and privileges guaranteed because of the fact that they are legal professionals, and also due to statutory provisions. 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 bench observed, adding that such an action prima facie is "untenable".