SC upholds certain Foreign Contribution Act amendments valid

New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Friday upheld some of the amendments to Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) 2010, implemented in September 2020, as valid, saying that foreign donations were abused and misutilised in the past, NDTV reported.

The court was hearing the writ petitions filed by Noel Harper and Jeevan Jyothi Charitable Trust, while another petition filed by Vinay Vinayak Joshi has challenged the extension of time allowed by the Ministry of Home Affairs to NGOs to comply with the new FCRA conditions.

While hearing the plea, which argued that the fresh restrictions are harsh and excessive, the top court observed that receiving foreign donations cannot be an absolute or vested right. The bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar added that it globally recognised that such contributions could influence national polity.

Petitioners' counsel Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan questioned the amendment, which mandates foreign money transfer only through the SBI New Delhi branch. NGOs involved in child education funds in many remote areas in India, and they cannot operate because of the new amendment, he said.

It was through NGOs half of the administration was carried out in the country during the Covid-19 pandemic. But the amendments like the current ones would hinder these NGO operations in an Independent India, Sankaranarayanan argued.

The Centre had argued that foreign money might be to spur the Naxalite activity or destabilise the country. There were Intelligence Bureau (IB) inputs that the money arriving for development works is being used for Naxalite training, it argued.