Receiving Foreign Donation Can't Be An Absolute Right: SC Upholds Constitutional Validity Of FCRA Amendment Act 2020

The Supreme Court on Friday (8 April) said that the citizens do not have any right to receive foreign contributions and permitting the same is a matter of state policy.

Upholding the Constitutional validity of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2020 (FRCA Amendment Act), which imposed restrictions on the way foreign contributions are handled by organisations based in India, the apex court observed that there is "no dearth of donors" in India and asked charitable associations to focus on donors with the country, reports Bar and Bench.

The SC bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar said that receiving foreign donation cannot be an "absolute or even a vested right".

The SC order came on a batch of petitions challenging delivered on a batch of petitions challenging provisions of the FCRA Amendment Act.

"It is open to the State to have a regime which may completely prohibit receipt of foreign donation, as no right inheres in the citizen to receive foreign contribution (donation)," the Court said.

"Indisputably, no absolute right inheres in any one, much less to receive foreign contribution outside the framework delineated by the Parliament and implemented by the executive," the judgement said.

Further, the apex court said that the foreign donations can influence policies of the country and lead to imposition of ideology and so they should be reduced to the "minimum level".

"Foreign aid can create presence of a foreign contributor and influence the policies of the country. It may tend to influence or impose political ideology. Such being the expanse of the effect of foreign contribution coupled with the tenet of constitutional morality of the nation, the presence/inflow of foreign contribution in the country ought to be at the minimum level, if not completely eschewed," the SC said.