SC refused to grant relief to NGOs on foreign funding

The Supreme Court has refused to grant interim relief on a plea challenging the government's refusal to renew licenses needed to receive funding from abroad to 6,000 Non-Governmental Organisations(NGOs). The court on Tuesday,was hearing a plea filed by the US-based NGO Global Peace Initiative that said the cancellation of licences can have a debilitating effect on COVID-19 relief efforts as the country is battling its third wave of infections and the work done by many of these NGOs has helped millions of Indians so far. It will lead to denial of aid to citizens in need, the plea said. A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar took note of the Centre's submission that 11,594 NGOs that applied for renewal within the deadline have already been given an extension. The court said that NGOs can make representation to the authorities, and they can take a call. 

Appearing for the government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta questioned the motive behind the plea and mentioned that thousands of NGOs that applied for renewal had already received extensions. "This public-spirited NGO is USA based. It's based in Houston. Licenses of those NGOs that have applied for renewal have already been extended. I do not know what purpose is sought with this plea. But something is amiss," he said. The plea had argued that the NGOs are doing good work and should be given an extension until Covid remains notified as a national disaster. As long as Covid is notified as a national disaster, the licence should be renewed. No heavens will fall, said Sanjay Hegde, arguing for the petitioner. "The role of NGOs in helping combat the pandemic has been acknowledged by the Central Government, the Niti Aayog and the Prime Minister's office itself," the plea said.

The Supreme Court also issued a notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Centre on the issue of political parties wooing voters with the promise of freebies ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in five states this year. The Supreme Court said the promise of freebies was a 'serious issue'. The top court was hearing a petition seeking direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to seize the election symbol or de-register a political party that promises or distributes “irrational freebies” from public funds before elections. The court said the matter will be heard again after four weeks.