Of 218 Amendments Rushed Through Lok Sabha in 30 Minutes – A Boon to Political Parties With 42-Year Retrospective Effect

New Delhi, Mar 15: Two Bills and 218 amendments were rushed through the Lok Sabha within 30 minutes on Thursday, as the House witnessed chaotic scenes after Opposition MPs stormed the Well seeking debates on Delhi sealing row, special status to Andhra Pradesh and Nirav Modi-linked PNB scam.

Among the slew of amendments cleared by the Lok Sabha, includes a controversial revision to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

The Association For Democratic Reforms (ADR), which has petitioned the Delhi  High Court for action against the BJP and Congress "for violating the FCRA norms", called the amendment to the law as "a boon to political parties with 42-year retrospective effect".

What is the FCRA law?

The FCRA law, first introduced in 1976, barred political parties to accept funds from entities with over 50 per cent foreign ownership. The Bill was later repealed and replaced with the FCRA Act, 2010, with similar provisions.

The law also drew lines for the NGOs, making it mandatory to avail MHA clearance for receiving donations from foreign entities.

In 2014, the Delhi High Court found both Congress and the BJP violating the FCRA Act, as it accepted donations from UK-based Vedanta group in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Amendments via Finance Act 2016 to evade legal scrutiny?

According to the ADR, the Finance Act 2016 was introduced by the government to evade legal action after the Delhi HC red-flagged the foreign donations in 2014.

In what was viewed as a bid to evade the consequences of the violation, the Finance Bill of 2016 introduced an amendment which said a donator shall "not be deemed a foreign entity" if the nominal value of share capital is within the limits specified for foreign investments.

"This move of the government to amend Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 was aimed at bailing out the two national political parties BJP and INC from facing legal consequences for violating the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976 and 2010," said the ADR petition filed before the High Court.

Why fresh amendment was moved in 2018?

The 2016 amendment, while redefining "a foreign entity" with retrospective effect from 2010, failed to take into consideration the donations accepted by political outfits since 1976.

Subsequently, ADR moved the Delhi HC seeking contempt action against the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for not taking action against the BJP and Congress for donations received from "foreign entities" before 2010.

The 2018 amendment, as per the ADR, is aimed at providing respite to political parties for any foreign donation availed since 1976.

What the amendment actually states?

In Part XIX of the list of amendments in the 2018 Finance Bill, the “Amendment to the Finance Act, 2016”, entry number 217, reads: “In Finance Act, 2016, in section 236, in the opening paragraph, for the words, figures and letter ‘the 26th September, 2010’, the words, figures and letter ‘the 5th August, 1976’ shall be substituted”. The FCRA Act, 1976, commenced on August 5, 1976. This was later repealed and replaced with FCRA, 2010.

Did Congress and BJP accept donations before 2010?

As per the data compiled by ADR, both the BJP and Congress have accepted donations from the Indian subsidiaries of a range of foreign entities, including the Vedanta, Dow Chemicals and Switzerland-based Mundipharma. Here are the foreign donations accepted by the BJP and Congress between 2004 to 2010:

The data compiled above shows foreign donations amounting in the range of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 5 crore.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 15, 2018 07:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).