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Accountability of Advocates in Professional Advice: Supreme Court’s Ruling in Vinod v. State of Rajasthan By Advocate Abhishek Jat The Supreme Court of India, in its recent decision in Vinod v. State of Rajasthan (Criminal Appeal No. 4292 of 2024, decided on 15 January 2025), has provided crucial clarity on the professional accountability of advocates, particularly in relation to advice rendered informally. The ruling, delivered by a Division Bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Manmohan, holds particular importance in an era where mobile conversations, WhatsApp messages, and other digital communications frequently come under judicial scrutiny. The central issue before the Court was whether an advocate could be exposed to criminal liability on the basis of advice given casually over a phone call, when such advice subsequently emerged as incriminating material in a criminal investigation. The appellant had argued that as a member of the Bar, his communication with a clien...

  By Abhishek Jat, Advocate In a significant ruling that clarifies the principles of contract interpretation, the Supreme Court of India has delivered a comprehensive judgment in Annaya Kocha Shetty (Dead) Through LRs v. Laxmibai Narayan Satose Since Deceased Through LRs & Others (Civil Appeal No. 84 of 2019). The judgment, authored by Justice S.V.N. Bhatti, establishes a hierarchical framework for interpreting contractual agreements and elucidates the application of Sections 91 and 92 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. The Supreme Court has articulated a three-tiered approach to contractual interpretation. The primary approach involves interpreting contracts in their "plain, ordinary and literal meaning," serving as the foundational principle for judicial interpretation of contractual terms. When literal interpretation creates absurdity, courts may deviate from strict literal meanings under the "golden rule of construction," which permits reasonable modificat...