Show cause notices to 5,922 NGOs for cancellation of FCRA registration

As many as 5,922 Non Government Organisations (NGOs) can lose their licence to receive foreign donations with the Home Ministry serving them show cause notices on Monday for not filing annual income and expenditure records for five consecutive years.

All associations were given an opportunity by way of a public notice uploaded on fcraonline.nic.in on May 12.

This was followed by regular email alerts to the associations from May 19 to June 14. Regular daily SMS alerts also followed from May 5 to June 14. This said public notice was on Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Press Information Bureau (PIB) websites.

In spite of adequate notice, it has been observed that all the 5,922 associations had not uploaded their annual returns for more than three years within the stipulated time given.

Such associations have now been issued show cause notice as to why their registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, (FCRA) may not be cancelled under Section 14 of FCRA, 2010 for failure to upload their Annual Returns from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

As per the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 and Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011, the associations are required to submit their Annual Return for every financial year beginning on the first day of April within nine months of the closure of the financial year.