Opposition JPC members seek four-week delay on FCRA Bill consultations

Ten opposition members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 have asked for the panel's next sitting to be put off by at least four weeks, arguing that the public needs a longer window to respond to the proposed law.

The request was made in a letter dated September 29 to committee chairman and BJP leader Sanjay Jaiswal. The signatories said the legislation carries wide-ranging implications, and that members should have more time to work through the Bill and the documents accompanying it before the clause-by-clause examination begins.

They also pressed for the period for receiving comments, suggestions and representations from the public and stakeholders to remain open for a minimum of four weeks, so that organisations, experts and ordinary citizens can study the provisions and send in their views. The extra time, the MPs added, would allow members to go through those submissions before the committee takes up the Bill.

The letter was signed by A. Raja and P. Wilson of the DMK; Christopher Manickam, Hamdullah Sayeed, Viriato Fernandes and Anto Antony of the Congress; Javed Ali Khan and Zia Ur Rehman Barq of the Samajwadi Party; Kalyan Banerjee of the All India Trinamool Congress; and James P.K. Sangma of the National People's Party.

The move came on the day the committee held its second sitting. Officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Legislative Department of the Ministry of Law and Justice gave members a clause-wise briefing on the Bill. Domain experts and stakeholders also deposed before the panel, among them representatives of the State Bank of India, law officers led by Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, and lawyers from AZB & Partners and T. Nair Chambers.

The committee is required to table its report in the Lok Sabha by the last day of the first week of the Winter Session of Parliament.