Karnataka High Court Quashes ED’s FEMA Proceedings Against Greenpeace Entities Citing Binding Precedent [Read Order]
HC quashed the SCN by noting that the ED had initiated proceedings after the omission of Section 6(3)(b) of FEMA.
![Karnataka High Court Quashes ED’s FEMA Proceedings Against Greenpeace Entities Citing Binding Precedent [Read Order]](https://images.taxscan.in/h-upload/2025/06/24/2053962-karnataka-hc-quashes-eds-fema-proceedings-greenpeace-entities-taxscan.webp "Karnataka High Court Quashes ED’s FEMA Proceedings Against Greenpeace Entities Citing Binding Precedent [Read Order]")
In a recent judgement passed by the Karnataka High Court in June, it quashed the Directorate of Enforcement's (ED) proceedings under the ForeignExchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) against Greenpeace Environment Trust and Greenpeace India Society, citing a binding precedent.
The appellants, Greenpeace Environment Trust and Greenpeace India Society, had approached the High Court through a writ petition under Article 226 against the Show Cause Notice (SCN) issued by the ED. The prayer was to issue a writ of certiorari or any other writ with the intention to quash the SCN.
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According to several media sources, the ED accused Greenpeace of collaborating with Direct Dialogue Initiatives India Pvt Ltd (DDIIPL) to generate and transfer foreign funds to the former, as well as to facilitate its operations. These allegations were rebutted by Greenpeace, and it stated that it just collaborated or merely worked with DDIIPL to contact contributors and that donations were then routed straight to Greenpeace.
The petitioner’s counsel contended that the ED's actions were without jurisdiction since Section 6(3)(b) of FEMA, the provision under which the contraventions were framed, was before the initiation of the proceedings. The counsel also relied on the case of Mrs Kshithija Urs v. Union of India and others [WP No.1418/2021], in which similar proceedings were quashed by the coordinate bench of the Karnataka High Court due to the omission of Section 6(3)(b).
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The High Court, by relying on the observation of its coordinate bench in the Mrs Kshithija Urs case, quashed the SCN by noting that the ED had initiated proceedings after the omission of Section 6(3)(b) of FEMA.
The bench noted that “ In that view of the matter, applying the dicta laid down by the Coordinate Bench of this court in its order dated 6.12.2025 passed in W.P. No.1418/2021, the above petition is required to be allowed.”
Justice Suraj Govindaraj allowed both the writ petitions and the show cause notice dated 25.02.2020 and the complaint dated 25.10.2019 were quashed.
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