PIL activists should declare source of funds: Jaitley

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said it should be mandatory for those filing PILs against the government on development projects to declare their source of funds, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned the judiciary against being influenced by "five-star activists".
The suggestion by Jaitley also came a day after the Union Government barred environmentalist group Greenpeace India from receiving foreign funds with immediate effect by suspending its licence for six months, and froze all its accounts, alleging it has "prejudicially" affected the country's public and economic interests.
Stating that many of the Public Interest Litigations(PILs) are influenced by the source of funds, Jaitley suggested that a document declaring the origin of funding should be attached to the PILs by the petitioners.

"Those who file PILs against developmental works of government must be more transparent than us (government), as they call themselves crusaders. People should know from where they are getting funds to file these PILs," said Jaitley at a conference on regulatory framework for India's first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) here.
"I am raising this issue because PILs are many times inspired by the funding sources. I believe that it should be mandatory to declare their funding sources and that document should also be attached with the PIL," opined Jaitley.
Modi, addressing a joint conference of Chief Justices of High Courts and Chief Ministers last Sunday, had said while the judiciary is getting powerful, it is necessary that it also become "perfect" to live up to the expectations of the people.

"It is easy to deliver judgements based on the law and the Constitution. There is a need to be cautious against perception-driven verdicts," Modi had said, adding that "perceptions are often driven by five star activists".