Notice alleges violation of foreign funds norms by receiving foreign contribution when Ms. Jaising held the office of Additional Solicitor-General.

Noted lawyer Indira Jaising’s firm Lawyers Collective, where her husband Anand Grover also has a stake, has been served notice by the Ministry of Home Affairs for allegedly violating foreign funds norms by receiving foreign contribution when she held the office of Additional Solicitor-General (ASG) during the UPA regime. Ms. Jaising could not be reached for comments immediately.
Ms. Jaising is currently representing Gujarat-based social activist Teesta Setalvad in a foreign fund violation case against the latter’s Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace.
Mr. Grover petitioned the Supreme Court in the dead of night to hear the plea of death row convict Yakub Memon, just hours before he was to hang in a Nagpur prison in July 2015.
The MHA said they had sent a notice to the Lawyers Collective and have asked them to furnish details about all the foreign contributions they received from organisations like the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundation. The notice was served on November 5, 2015.
The MHA acted after receiving a complaint from Raj Kumar Sharma, a Jaipur resident.
The notice served by the MHA says, “Whereas a preliminary assessment of records revealed that Lawyer’s Collective, when its Secretary Ms Indira Jaising (Chief Functionary) was a ‘public servant’ employed as Additional Solicitor General (ASG) by the Govt of India, during the financial years 2009-10 to 2011-12, received foreign contribution of Rs.11,67,37,584. As per Section 3(1)(c) of FCRA 2010, a Government servant or employee of any corporation or any other body controlled or owned by the Government is prohibited from receiving foreign contribution, thereby violating Section 3(1)(c) of FCRA.”