NEW DELHI: Activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Monday drew a contrast in the Centre's action against social activist Teesta Setalvad and political parties on the issue of receiving foreign funds in alleged violation of law.
Bhushan told the Supreme Court that the Centre had been very quick to take action against 'Greenpeace' and Setalvad for getting foreign funds in alleged violation of law but for years it had failed to proceed against BJP and Congress which too were accused of receiving overseas funds in violation of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).
He told a bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy that the NDA government had been reluctant in taking action against the political parties despite the Delhi High Court in March last year directing the authorities to initiate proceedings against them for getting foreign funds.
"The government was very quick in taking action against Greenpeace and Teesta in FCRA violation case but for the last 16 months it did not take any action against the political parties. The government has not moved even an inch despite the high court asking it to take action," Bhushan said.
The court was hearing petitions filed by BJP and the Congress challenging the March 28, 2014 order of HC, which had held that they were liable to be proceeded against for receiving funds from Vedanta subsidiaries. The HC had asked the Centre and the Election Commission (EC) to act against them.
Challenging the order of the high court, both BJP and Congress told SC that Vedanta is owned by an Indian citizen and its subsidiaries are incorporated here, therefore they are not foreign sources.
BJP and Congress had appealed against the order in the SC. However, till date the government has not clarified its stand.
He also said that the government has a conflict of interest in this issue as BJP is the ruling party at the Centre. The court asked the Centre to file its response within three weeks.
Interpreting FCRA (1976) and the Companies Act, the HC had held that "Vedanta is a "foreign company" within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1956 and therefore, the Anil Aggarwal-owned company and its subsidiaries, Sterlite and Sesa, are foreign sources as per FCRA.
"Prima facie the acts of the respondents (Congress and BJP) inter se, clearly fall foul of the ban imposed under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act as the donations accepted by the political parties from Sterlite and Sesa accrue from "foreign sources" within the meaning of law," the HC had ruled on a PIL filed by Association for Democratic Reforms.
