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The SC today dismissed the plea filed by Mahua Moitra, TMC Member of Parliament which confronted the Centre’s Circular.
The circular states that Chief Minister's Funds or State Relief Funds shall not come within the scope of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities under Section 135 of the Companies Act.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy ad BR Gavai dismissed the present plea immediately after hearing the matter and noting that Moitra had filed a similar plea which the court had dismissed earlier on 5th May 2020.
Today Advocate Rohit Anil Rathi, representing the MP from Krishnanagar (West Bengal) gave in that the previous plea was withdrawn on May 5th and urged the bench to only consider the matter in respect of this subsequent development.
The apex court however was not liable to consider the matter and stated that, “How can the same Petitioner file another petition on the same issue? This won't set a right precedent. You shouldn't have filed it again after you withdrew a similar petition in May."
Appropriately, the bench said that as the petitioner had filed a plea for similar relief which was dismissed and withdrawn on 5th May, The court is not inclined.
In the previous plea, Justice Justice Ashok Bhushan refused to consider the Moitra’s plea challenging the circular which excluded CM's Relief Funds from the ambit of CSR that was issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), because there no representation by an aggrieved party before the Supreme Court.
The petition highlighted that excluding the funds from the scope of CSR was direct breach of Constitutional tenets of federalism and Article 14 and moreover it would be ultra vires of the Companies Act.
The MP had further asserted that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs notification made differences on the basis of contributions made to PM CARES Fund and CM Relief Funds because only the former would attract CSR. As a result, discouraging the corporate contributions which would otherwise be received by the State Government.
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