Indian Social Action Forum (Insaf) v. Union of India

SANJIV KHANNA, J. SEPTEMBER 16, 2011 dk

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Judgment reserved on: 11th August, 2011 % Judgment pronounced on: 16th September, 2011 + WP(C) No.5793/2011 Indian Social Action Forum(INSAF) ..... Petitioner Through: Mr.Sanjay Parikh, Mr. Aagney Sail, Ms. Mamta Saxena and Mr.Pranav Raina, Advocates. versus The Union of India ..... Respondent Through: Mr.Himanshu Bajaj, Advocate. CORAM: HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJIV KHANNA 1. Whether reporters of the local papers be allowed to see the judgment? Yes 2. To be referred to the Reporter or not? Yes 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Yes DIPAK MISRA, CJ The petitioner, Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), has preferred this writ petition for declaring Sections 5(1) & 5(4) of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (for brevity, "the Act") and Rules 3(i), 3(v) & 3(vi) of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011 (for short, "the 2011 Rules") as ultra vires the Articles 14, 19(1)(a), 19(1)(c) and 21 of the Constitution of India. 2. At the very outset, we may note that the petitioner has stated about its status and the social activity it carries out and how the Act came into force. They need not be adverted to, for we are only concerned with the constitutional validity of the aforesaid provisions of the Act. 3. To appreciate the controversy, it is appropriate to refer to Section 3 of the Act, which reads as follows: "3. Prohibition to accept foreign contribution. – (1) No foreign contribution shall be accepted by any – (a) candidate for election; (b) correspondent, columnist, cartoonist, editor, owner, printer or publisher of a registered newspaper; (c) Judge, Government servant or employee of any corporation or any other body controlled or owned by the Government; (d) member of any Legislature; (e) political party or office-bearer thereof; (f) organisation of a political nature as may be specified under sub-section (1) of section 5 by the Central Government; (g) association or company engaged in the production or broadcast of audio news or audio visual news or current affairs programmes through any electronic mode, or any other electronic form as defined in clause (r) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000) or any other mode of mass communication; (h) correspondent or columnist, cartoonist, editor, owner of the association or company referred to in clause (g). Explanation. – In clause (c) and section 6, the expression "corporation" means a corporation owned or controlled by the Government and includes a Government company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956). (2)(a) No person, resident in India, and no citizen of India resident outside India, shall accept any foreign contribution, or acquire or agree to acquire any currency from a foreign source, on behalf of any political party, or any person referred to in sub-section (1), or both. (b) No person, resident in India, shall deliver any currency, whether Indian or foreign, which has been accepted from any foreign source, to any person if he knows or has reasonable cause to believe that such other person intends, or is likely, to deliver such currency to any political party or any person referred to in sub- section (1), or both. (c) No citizen of India resident outside India shall deliver any currency, whether Indian or foreign, which has been accepted from any foreign source, to- (i) any political party or any person referred to in sub- section (1), or both; or (ii) any other person, if he knows or has reasonable cause to believe that such other person intends, or is likely, to deliver such currency to a political party or to any person referred to in sub-section (1), or both. (3) No person receiving any currency, whether Indian or foreign, from a foreign source on behalf of any person or class of persons, referred to in section 9, shall deliver such currency – (a) to any person other than a person for which it w