Home Ministry "inadvertently" renews, cancels licence of another NGO

NEW DELHI: In another faux pas, the Home Ministry "inadvertently" renewed and then cancelled the registration of a Tamil Nadu-based (NGO) barring it from receiving foreign grant.

The licence of Florence Home Foundation, a member of France's Emmaus International, was cancelled for alleged misutilisation of foreign grant, a recent order issued by the Ministry said.

The NGO was alleged to be not maintaining accounts as prescribed under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and crediting foreign contributions into local fund bank in violation of the statutory provisions.

The NGO, which operates from Cuddalore, was registered with the Home Ministry for receiving foreign contributions for religious, cultural, economic, educational and social causes.

The NGO, which was under the government's watch for division of funds, had in March last year applied for renewal of its certificate of registration, a mandatory obligation under the FCRA, to receive funds from abroad.

The registration certificate was "renewed inadvertently", the order said.

Later, the Home Ministry decided to call for proceedings of the case and found the matter was fit for revision of its order issued in October 2016 following which the registration of the NGO was cancelled.

The Home Ministry had recently cancelled FCRA licence of Greenpeace India and two NGOs run by activist Teesta Setalvad-- Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace-- two months after "inadvertently" allowing their registration for five more years.

The Home Ministry faced embarrassment when it emerged there was a lapse in "automatic renewal" of the licence of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's NGO -- Islamic Research Foundation (IRF)-- leading to suspension of four officials including a Joint Secretary.

The FCRA licence of IRF was later cancelled by the government permanently after declaring it as a terror outfit.

The Florence Home Foundation is the ninth NGO whose licence was cancelled by the government in past few days.

The licences of NGOs Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) run by activist Shabnam Hashmi, Marwar Muslim Education and Welfare Society, Gujarat-based Navsarjan Trust, Rural Development Research Centre, Ahmedabad, and three others were cancelled by the Home Ministry.

There were adverse intelligence inputs against these NGOs ranging from allegedly working against public interest by using foreign funds, painting the government as "anti- Dalit" abroad, besides others, officials said.

FCRA licences of these NGOs were claimed to have been renewed "inadvertently".