Joint Parliamentary Committee to start detailed scrutiny of FCRA bill

New Delhi: The parliamentary panel examining the FCRA Bill will on Tuesday begin its detailed scrutiny of the proposed legislation, with SBI chairman CS Setty, Attorney General Tushar Mehta and other legal experts expected to brief the committee on its financial, compliance and legal aspects.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), chaired by BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal, will begin clause-by-clause consideration of the Foreign Contribution Regulation (Amendment) Bill from Tuesday.

Read more: FCRA registered NGOs down by half in last 10 years; contribution rises from Rs 17832 cr to Rs 22974 cr


Legal experts, including Gursimran Kohli of AZB Partners, along with senior officials from the home and law ministries, will also appear before the panel.

At its introductory meeting last week, home secretary Govind Mohan told the panel that the proposed amendments were aimed at addressing internal security concerns. The committee was informed that while the number of FCRA-registered NGOs had declined over the past decade, the quantum of foreign contributions had increased.

The committee has been asked to submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the last day of the first week of the Winter Session. Introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25, the Bill proposes tighter government oversight of NGOs receiving foreign funding.