NEW DELHI: Eminent lawyers and civil society organisations have urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reconsider the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Bill, 2006, saying that the draft legislation will undermine democratic space and the independence of the voluntary sector.

In an open letter to the Prime Minister, the signatories sought to point out that the Bill runs counter to the National Policy on the Voluntary Sector “that is pledged to encourage, enable and empower voluntary organisations.”

Instead, the Bill – according to the letter issued under the aegis of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) – “permits broad executive discretion, allows subjective satisfaction in decision-making and provides limited recourse to procedural safeguards,” they said.

The signatories, comprising legal luminaries such as the former Attorney General of India, Soli S. Sorabjee, the former Supreme Court judge, Ruma Pal, and Fali S. Nariman, point out nine areas of concern; beginning with the very purpose of the Bill.

Referring to the government’s rationale that the Bill seeks to prohibit the use of foreign contribution for activities detrimental to “national interest,” the letter points out that it is a subjective and malleable term “open to capricious interpretation” and increases room for executive discretion.

The Bill, it is pointed out, gives the executive the power to cancel a certificate of registration in “public interest” besides inspect, search and seize the property of voluntary organisations without adherence to the procedural safeguards prescribed in the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Other areas of concern pertain to the clause that permits “unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of an organisation by putting a cap of 50 per cent on administrative expenses and the ban on investment of foreign contribution or its proceeds in `speculative businesses.”

Add to this the broad list of grounds for refusal of a certificate of registration and the requirement for renewal of this certificate every five years. “Since no time limit is prescribed, organisations considered inconvenient by the government of the day may find themselves subject to motivated procedural delays.”

Previous Acts
Also, the signatories sought to draw the Prime Minister’s attention to the fact that the FCRA, 1976, Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, already provide a “robust framework” to prevent the misuse of funds or their diversion towards anti-national or terrorist activities.