New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said that receiving foreign donations cannot be an absolute or even a vested right, and free and uncontrolled flow of foreign contribution has the potential of impacting the sovereignty and integrity of the nation.

There is no fundamental right vested in anyone to receive foreign contribution (donation) or foreign exchange

The observations came as it upheld the constitutional validity of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2020, which imposed restrictions on the way foreign contributions are handled by Indian organisations

A bench, headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar and comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar, said: “There is no fundamental right vested in anyone to receive foreign contribution (donation) or foreign exchange.”

Justice Khanwilkar, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench, said: “Indubitably, foreign contribution is qualitatively different from foreign investment. Receiving foreign donations cannot be an absolute or even a vested right. By its very expression, it is a reflection on the constitutional morality of the nation as a whole being incapable of looking after its own needs and problems.”

Upholding the series of amendments made by the Centre in Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, to regulate the acceptance and utilisation of foreign funds by NGOs, associations, and individuals and also to trace the utilisation of the funds, the bench noted that serious concern about the impact of widespread inflow of foreign contribution on the values of a sovereign democratic republic had been repeatedly expressed at different levels, including in the Parliament.

Philosophically, foreign contribution is akin to gratifying intoxicant replete with medicinal properties and may work like a nectar, it said. “However, it serves as a medicine so long as it is consumed (utilised) moderately and discreetly, for serving the larger cause of humanity. Otherwise, this artifice has the capability of inflicting pain, suffering and turmoil as being caused by the toxic substance (potent tool) a” across the nation,” it added, in the 132-page judgment.

The bench pointed out that the purport of the principal Act and the impugned amendments are only to provide a regulatory framework and not one of complete prohibition. It said that there was unanimity amongst the members of both the Houses cutting across party lines to have such a strict regime as indiscriminate receipt/inflow and more so utilisation of foreign contribution had been threatening the sovereignty and integrity of the country itself.