New Delhi, Nov 9 (FN Agency) The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a petition challenging the validity of the Amendment of 2020 brought in in the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to regulate foreign funds received by NGOs. A bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar reserved the order after hearing the argument from the petitioner and respondent in the case. The Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, arguing for the Centre, said that the right to receive foreign contributions is not a fundamental right.
“The foreign contributions, if unregulated, can cause devastating consequences to the sovereignty of the nation. As a nation, we have been conscious of foreign contributions,” the SG Mehta told Supreme Court. He said that the regulation is with an object and has been clear from the introduction of the legislation. One of the petitions filed before the Supreme Court has sought a direction to the government not to grant any further extension to the NGOs to comply with specific provisions of the law including on opening of bank account at a specific branch of a nationalised bank.