Today, On 31st October, The Supreme Court ruled that investigating agencies must not summon advocates representing the accused, stressing that “such summons could infringe fundamental rights of the accused” and violate statutory provisions protecting lawyer-client confidentiality under Section 132 and the new BNSS framework.
Today, On 21st July, CJI B.R. Gavai-led bench slammed the ED for summoning lawyers merely for giving legal advice, calling it a breach of client confidentiality. “Lawyers can’t be summoned; such advice is protected by privileged communication,” the court said.
Today, On 14th July, The Supreme Court will hear a suo motu case on investigative agencies summoning lawyers for giving legal opinions, following ED’s summons to senior advocates Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal. CJI Gavai-led bench will hear it.
Justice A.S. Oka stressed that judges must not think about future career opportunities after taking the oath. He said such thoughts weaken their ability to perform judicial duties with honesty, independence, and integrity.
At his farewell event in Pune, former Supreme Court judge Abhay Oka said judges should take up more matters to reduce case pendency, adding that simply creating another bench won’t solve the backlog problem in courts.
