The Supreme Court will today hear a plea seeking quashing of the Centre's alleged decision by which 5,789 entities lost their FCRA registration. A bench comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari will hear the US-based NGO Global Peace Initiative petition today.
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act registration is mandatory for any association and NGO to receive foreign funding. There has been a clampdown on the same in the recent months. There were 22,762 FCRA-registered organisations till December 31, 2021. On January 1, the number came down to 16,829. Among those organisations whose FCRA registration ceased were Medical Council of India, Emmanuel Hospital Association, which runs over a dozen hospitals across India, Tubercolosis Association Of India, Vishwa Dharamayatan, Maharishi Ayurveda Pratishthan and National Federation Of Fishermen's Cooperatives Ltd. The Hamdard Education Society, Delhi School Of Social Work Society, Bhartiya Sanskriti Parishad, DAV College Trust and Management Society, India Islamic Cultural Centre, Godrej Memorial Trust, The Delhi Public School Society, Nuclear Science Centre in JNU, India Habitat Centre, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi College of Engineering and All India Marwari Yuva Manch are also also among these entities.
Out of them, as many as 12,989 organisations have applied for the renewal of the FCRA licence between September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2021. Since 5,789 organisations did not apply for the renewal of the FCRA licence, they were deemed to have ceased to be registered organisations, according to reports. In addition to them, renewal application of 179 organisations were also rejected by0 the home ministry due to different reasons.
