After Supreme Court Bar Body's Protest, ED Withdraws Summons Issued To Sr Adv Pratap Venugopal

In the latest development, the Enforcement Directorate has withdrawn with immediate effect the summons issued by it to Senior Advocate Pratap Venugopal over legal advice tendered to a client.

To recap, on June 18, ED issued summons to Venugopal over legal advice given by him to M/s Care Health Insurance on the ESOP (employee stock ownership) issued to former Religare Enterprises chairperson Dr Rashmi Saluja. Prior to that, similar summons were issued to Senior Advocate Arvind Datar; these were however later withdrawn.

Today, the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association wrote to the Chief Justice of India, deploring ED's action and seeking suo motu cognizance of the issuance of summons to Venugopal. Stating that ED's action had serious ramifications for "independence of the legal profession" and the "foundational principle of lawyer-client privilege", the letter requested inter-alia:

(i) examination of the legality and propriety of such summons issued to legal professionals for opinions tendered in good faith, and

(ii) laying down of appropriate guidelines to prevent any further erosion of lawyer-client privilege and upholding independence of the Bar.

Soon after, ED's Assistant Director (Mumbai) withdrew with immediate effect the subject summons, as per which Venugopal was directed to appear before the agency on June 24.