Search of Delhi lawyer’s office: SC asks GST authorities
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Goods and Services Tax (GST) authorities not to proceed with analysis of data seized from Advocate Puneet Batra’s office till September 28.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu asked Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the authorities, not to take action till the court hears the lawyer’s plea.
Batra has challenged the Delhi High Court’s judgment holding that a lawyer’s office can be searched by law enforcement agencies if there is prima facie evidence that the legal professional has committed an offence.
At the outset, Justice Datta clarified that they have not gone through the case files, which came to them late at night. He suggested that the matter be heard on September 28. Senior advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Batra, submitted that the investigating agency has issued summons to Batra for September 28 and urged the bench to hear the matter. “They have sent summons for Monday. Your Lordships may say that no coercive steps be taken,” Hariharan said.
The bench told Raju not to take any coercive action till Monday. The Additional Solicitor General submitted that the agency was only analysing the data, and this is not a case of a lawyer-client relationship.
The bench said, “You have read the briefs, you know the facts; we don’t. Don’t do anything till Monday.” On Wednesday, the top court took note of the submissions of senior advocates Vikas Singh and N Hariharan, and agreed to list for urgent hearing a plea challenging the Delhi High Court judgment that upheld a GST search of Batra’s office and the seizure of his computer.
Singh raised concerns over authorities’ access to data containing privileged information about Batra’s clients from the seized computer.
“Computers have been seized. The materials will be accessed. Breach of privilege will happen,” Singh had said.
