Voluntary organisations which have absolutely no connection with any kind of politics cannot be denied access to foreign contributions, the Supreme Court said on Friday.
A bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta said support to public causes by resorting to legitimate means of dissent like bandh, hartal etc. cannot deprive an organisation of its legitimate right of receiving foreign contribution.
Any organisation which supports the cause of a group of citizens agitating for their rights without a political goal or objective cannot be penalised by being declared as an organisation of a political nature, the bench said.
The apex court, however, made it clear that organisations used for channelling foreign funds by political parties cannot escape the rigour of the Act provided there is concrete material.
"In that event, the central government shall follow the procedure prescribed in the Act and rules strictly before depriving such organisation the right to receive foreign contributions," the bench said.
The top court said that a balance has to be drawn between the object that is sought to be achieved by the legislation and the rights of the voluntary organisations to have access to foreign funds.
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The bench said that the purpose for which the law prevents organisations of a political nature from receiving foreign funds is to ensure that the administration is not influenced by foreign funds.
Prohibition from receiving foreign aid, either directly or indirectly, by those who are involved in active politics is to ensure that the values of a sovereign democratic republic are protected, it said.
"On the other hand, such of those voluntary organisations which have absolutely no connection with either party politics or active politics cannot be denied access to foreign contributions. Therefore, such of those organisations which are working for the social and economic welfare of the society cannot be brought within the purview of the Act or the rules by enlarging the scope of the term 'political interests," the apex court said.
The top court's judgement came on an appeal filed by a voluntary organisation Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF) challenging Section 5 (1) of the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act on the ground that the terms activity, ideology and programme' are vague and have not been defined in the Act which result in conferring unbridled and unfettered power on the executive.
The petitioner had earlier moved the Delhi High Court verdict which had dismissed their plea.