NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognizance of the action taken by the investigating agencies in summoning lawyers for providing legal advice and assistance to their clients. A bench comprising Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria will hear the matter on July 14. The case has been registered under the name 'In Re : Summoning Advocates Who Give Legal Opinion or Represent Parties During Investigation of Cases and Related Issues'

Earlier, a bench comprising Justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotishwar Singh had expressed concern over the police and investigative agencies summoning advocates, and had referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India.

The ED had summoned senior Supreme Court lawyer Pratap Venugopal and Adv. Arvind Dutt for providing legal advice to a firm under investigation in a money laundering case. The summons had led to controversy and was withdrawn after a huge outcry from the legal community. The ED director issued a circular stating that lawyers should not be summoned or that if they wanted to be summoned, the investigation team should take prior permission.

The Gujarat Police's summons to lawyer Ashwinkumar Govindbhai Prajapati for providing legal advice is under consideration in the Supreme Court.