Supreme Court junks Centre's plea against order directing NGO's FCRA renewal
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the Centre's plea challenging an order directing the renewal of an organisation's registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.
The matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.
The counsel appearing for the Centre said the renewal was not done as there was alleged violation of Section 7 of the FCRA Act.
Section 7 of the Act deals with prohibition to transfer foreign contribution to other person.
"What else? Have they misappropriated? Is there any abuse of the funds received by them? There is no such findings at all. If they are doing some social service... what is your problem?," the bench asked.
When the counsel referred to section 7 of the Act, the bench said, "Dismissed".
"Don't complicate things. Don't further harass them," the bench observed.
The Centre had challenged a June 2025 order of the Madras High Court.
The high court passed the order on two petitions, including the one challenging the proceedings rejecting the application for renewal of registration under the Act.
The trust argued in the high court that it was founded in 1982 with the object of improving education and overall welfare of children.
The trust said it received foreign donations and obtained a certificate of registration under Section 12 of the Act in March 1983.
It said the latest renewal took place with effect from November 2016 for a period of five years.
The trust said it filed an application in February 2021 under Section 16 of the Act for renewal of the certificate of registration and in December 2021, it received a communication informing that the application for renewal was refused.
The high court noted the other appellant before it was one of the sister NGOs of the trust and its application for renewal was also rejected in December 2021.
The Centre, however, argued that the right to receive foreign contributions was not a vested right and couldn't be claimed as a matter of right by the petitioners, which it said violated the provisions of Section 7 of the Act.
"The report placed before this court in the sealed cover does not indicate even a single instance where any such diversion has taken place. As a matter of fact, there is no complaint against both the petitioner trust as well as the appellant that they have wrongly transferred any foreign contribution," the high court said.
The high court, therefore, directed the authority to act upon the respective application for renewal of registration and grant renewal under Section 16 of the Act within four weeks from its order.
"It is inevitable to sum up that just because some institutions run with the aid of foreign contribution, it is not necessary to look at the institutions like that of the petitioners with suspicion unless there are materials to show that such foreign contribution is being misused and it is being used against public interest/national interest," the high court added.
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Ordinance issued to increase number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38
New Delhi (PTI): The government has promulgated an ordinance to increase the strength of the Supreme Court from the present 34 judges to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
The law ministry notified the ordinance on Saturday, which amended the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, to increase the sanctioned strength of the top court.
So far, the sanctioned strength of the top court was 34, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Now, the number of judges has been increased by four, taking the sanctioned strength to 38.
The top court will now have 37 judges, other than the CJI.
With the apex court having two vacancies at present, and the ordinance coming into force immediately, the Supreme Court Collegium will now have to recommend six names for appointment as judges in the top court.
A bill will be brought in the Monsoon Session of Parliament to convert the ordinance – an executive order – into a law passed by Parliament.
The Union Cabinet had cleared a draft bill on May 5 to increase the number of apex court judges.
The strength of the Supreme Court was last increased from 30 to 33 (excluding the CJI) in 2019.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, as originally enacted in 1956, put the maximum number of judges (excluding the CJI) at 10.
This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges), Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 by another amendment to the law.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1986, augmented the strength of judges from 17 to 25, excluding the CJI.
A fresh amendment in 2009 further increased the strength from 25 to 30.
Article 124(3) of the Constitution lists the qualifications required to become a Supreme Court judge.
An Indian citizen who has either served as a high court judge for at least five years, or as an advocate for 10 years, or is a distinguished jurist, can be appointed to the top court.
The strength of the Supreme Court is increased based on the recommendations of the CJI, who writes to the Union law minister. After consulting the finance ministry, the Department of Justice under the law ministry moves the Cabinet with a draft bill.
