On Friday, the Centre told the Supreme Court that NGOs had no fundamental right to receive foreign donations.

The government defended its 2020 amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act as a move to curb illegal funds transfer from foreign donors and non-State actors to influence the country’s political and social discourse.

“The Act is a sovereignty and integrity legislation where the overriding purpose is to ensure that foreign money does not dominate public life as well as political and social discourse in India. This becomes even more imperative in view of the fact that some foreign powers and foreign state and non-state actors continue to take up activities that amount to interference in the internal polity of the country with ulterior designs,” the government said in an affidavit filed through Sumant Singh, joint secretary (foreigners) in the home ministry.

“The restrictions on transfer aim to prevent and counter such acts of ulterior motives. Therefore, for effective monitoring and for ensuring the accountability of the recipient association, the transfer of foreign contribution has been prohibited. It is expected that NGOs would grow on the strength of their own genuine work undertaken for fulfilling specific needs of society,” the affidavit added.

Section 7 of the amended act restricts transfer of foreign contributions from one NGO or individual to another. Section 12 empowers the government to obtain the Aadhaar details of key functionaries of NGOs. Section 17 (1A) makes it mandatory for every NGO to open a dedicated FCRA account with the State Bank of India, New Delhi.

The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2020, has been challenged by some NGOs as being violative of their fundamental Rights to Equality (Article 14), form associations or unions (19(1)(c), practise any profession, occupation, trade or business (19(1)(g), and life and liberty (21).

The Narendra Modi government’s affidavit says:

“It is submitted that at the outset… the petitioners have claimed fundamental rights under Article 14, 21 and Article 19(1)(c) and Article 19(1)(g). It is unequivocally submitted that there exists no fundamental right to receive unbridled foreign contributions without any regulation.
“…In fact, there exists no fundamental right under which any right, legal or otherwise, can be said to include the purported right to receive foreign contributions. It is submitted that Parliament, representing the will of the people, has enacted the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, thereby laying down a clear legislative policy of strict controls over foreign contributions for certain activities in the country.
“…There exists no right to receive any foreign contribution outside the framework designed by Parliament and implemented by the executive. It is submitted that no part of any purported right to receive foreign contributions can be said to be a part of the fundamental rights granted to citizens….
“There is no question of fundamental rights being violated through controls of acceptance of foreign contribution by certain type of organisations as the said organisations or individuals are always open to operate with locally secured funds….”

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