The Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) on Monday registered its strong protest against the summons recently issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to Senior Advocate Arvind Datar in connection with its probe into the Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) granted by Care Health Insurance to former Religare Enterprises chairperson Rashmi Saluja.
Terming the action as constitutionally untenable, unwarranted, and legally unjustifiable, SCAORA Secretary Nikhil Jain said in a statement that such actions could adversely affect the independence of legal counsel and the constitutional right of citizens to legal representation without intimidation.
He warned that this new trend of ‘investigative overreach’ could have broader implications for the legal profession and the functioning of the rule of law.
Calling Datar a respected Senior Advocate of unimpeachable integrity, who consistently upheld the highest standards of professional conduct and legal ethics, Jain said the action taken by the national agency conflated legal advice with criminal complicity.
He said the arbitrary exercise of executive power by the agencies sent a chilling message to the legal community at large and threatened the foundational right of every citizen to receive independent legal counsel without fear or intimidation.
The SCOARA Secretary further warned that the action taken by the federal agency could have a deterrent effect on lawyers engaged in certain types of cases.
Terming the independence of the judiciary and the Bar as twin pillars of India’s constitutional democracy, Jain said the effective functioning of courts was impossible without fearless and independent advocates.
The national agency has already withdrawn the summons issued to Datar.
The ED summons pertained to a legal opinion rendered by Datar supporting the grant of stock options to Saluja, which is now the subject of parallel scrutiny by both the ED and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
The agency is examining whether the issuance of over 22.7 million ESOPs, valued at more than Rs 250 crore, was in contravention of regulatory norms or part of a larger scheme involving financial impropriety.
As per media reports, Datar told ED officials that lawyers could not be summoned for investigations involving their clients. He further said that lawyers were prohibited from disclosing legal advice given to their clients, citing professional privilege.
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