Himachal HC directs Centre, State to identify firms liable under CSR for disaster aid

Taking cognizance of the devastation caused by unprecedented rainfall this year, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the Union and state governments to submit a list of companies liable under corporate social responsibility (CSR) to determine their contribution towards disaster management.

The Bench of Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Ranjan Sharma made it clear that the exercise was meant “to ascertain which of the companies has complied with social and statutory responsibility to contribute and whether the State has called upon them to do so or not, in view of the unprecedented rainfall in 2025 and the fallout of the same, which has led to the crippling of the infrastructure.”

The direction came as the high court directed its Registry to treat the matter as a separate public interest litigation before impleading as respondents the Union of India through the secretaries of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The State of Himachal Pradesh was also impleaded as a respondent through the secretaries of the Department of Health and Family Welfare and the Department of Industries. The Registry was told to supply complete documents to the Advocate-General and the Deputy Solicitor-General of India within two days.

The Bench passed the order while continuing proceedings from its earlier direction issued on September 3 in connection with the ‘Chief Justice Disaster Relief Fund 2025’. Referring to the provisions of the Companies Act, the court asserted: “We find that under Section 135 of The Companies Act, 2013, there is an obligation upon a company having net worth of Rs 500 crore or more, or turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or more or a net profit of Rs 5 crore or more during the immediately preceding financial year to have a corporate social responsibility.”

Making it clear that the requirement was statutory, the Bench asserted at least two per cent of the average net profits of a company made during the three immediately preceding financial years was to be spent towards the responsibility policy, in accordance with a provision of the Act. The matter has been fixed for September 26.

The high court has already stepped directly into the relief effort for families devastated by unprecedented rains, landslides and cloudbursts in the hill state by establishing the dedicated ‘Chief Justice Disaster Relief Fund 2025’ and appealing for voluntary contributions — not just from institutions, but from individuals across the judicial and legal fraternity — to help those “struggling to rebuild their lives.”