The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned till Monday the hearing of a Special Leave Petition filed by advocate Puneet Batra, challenging the Delhi High Court judgment upholding the GST Department’s search and seizure at his cabin and law firm, Bass Legal LLP.
[A Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sheel Nagu were hearing Batra’s challenge to the High Court ruling that held that advocate-client privilege cannot be an absolute bar to investigating a lawyer’s own conduct where prima facie material indicates that the lawyer may have acted beyond the role of a legal adviser.The Delhi High Court Division Bench of Justices Anil Khetarpal and Shail Jain had dismissed Batra’s petition, holding that the search was carried out pursuant to a valid authorisation under Section 67(2) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
The Supreme Court Bench said it had received the matter only late on Thursday and had not had an opportunity to examine the brief. The matter was accordingly posted for Monday, September 28.
Senior Advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Batra, informed the Court that the GST Department had summoned him for Monday. The Bench consequently orally directed the Department not to take any action against Batra until Monday.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the GST Department, submitted that the matter did not concern a lawyer-client relationship and that incriminating material was emerging from the investigation.
Noting that the bench was not yet privy to the underlying facts, Justice Datta requested the parties to wait until the following Monday for the hearing.
The matter will now be heard on September 28, with the interim direction against any action by the GST Department continuing until then.
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