The government has told the Delhi High Court that the FCRA registration of the NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) was cancelled because foreign contributions received by the organisation had been “diverted towards activities benefiting countries/ citizens such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan”.
This “diversion of benefits to unfriendly nations constitutes a grave concern and poses a potential threat to national security”, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said in an affidavit submitted to the court.
CHRI’s registration under The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA) was cancelled in September 2024 after the NGO “came under adverse notice through the inputs of Security Agency”. Its report is “secret”, and “it may not be advisable to bring the report in the present affidavit considering the nature of the report with regard to national interest”, the MHA has said.
The affidavit was filed on June 27 in response to a legal challenge by CHRI in January this year to the cancellation of its registration. The MHA’s September 12, 2024 action was the second time CHRI’s FCRA registration was cancelled. The first time was on April 19, 2022; following a challenge by CHRI, Delhi High Court set aside the cancellation in July 2024. The court had directed the government to consider the case afresh, since the April 2022 order did not lay down the reasons for the cancellation, and did not record CHRI’s response to the allegations.
Two months later, the MHA issued the second order cancelling CHRI’s FCRA registration, this time recording CHRI’s explanation in the order. On July 29, with CHRI’s challenge to the cancellation order pending before the HC, the Income-Tax Department issued notice to the organisation under Section 12AB(4)(a) of The Income-Tax Act, 1961, which deals with the revocation of the registration of a trust or institution in case of “specified violations”. The HC set aside the I-T notice on August 19.
The MHA’s affidavit is learnt to have made at least three specific allegations. First, that CHRI used foreign contributions on activities outside Indian territories in contravention of the FCRA. While CHRI contended that the Act does not put restrictions on the geographical location or reach of the work of an organisation registered under the Act, MHA has argued that “by its nature, the FC (foreign contribution) is received from foreign sources for welfare of society in India hence, its utilization in foreign countries amounts to diversion of such FC”. According to the affidavit, it is “abundantly clear that [CHRI] has diverted its FC for undesirable purposes”, which amounts to a violation of FCRA provisions.
Second, as per the affidavit, CHRI deposited consultation fees amounting to almost Rs 32 lakh in its FCRA account, even though this sum was not FC. CHRI submitted that as a charitable or voluntary organisation, the fees it received under agreements with the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK and Transparency International Sri Lanka (TI-SL) “retained the character of FC”. However, the MHA has rejected this argument.
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Third, the affidavit states CHRI provided “incomplete information” in statutory form FC-4 for FY-2018-19 by not providing details of the activities/ projects for which FC was received and utilised, and “incorrect information” for FY 2013-14 and FY 2018-19 on opening and closing balances. These alleged violations pertain mostly to procedural infirmities in filings and disclosures by CHRI.
CHRI was founded in 1987 as a public charity in the UK, and brought to India in 1993 by the late jurist Soli Sorabjee. On June 7, 2021, its registration certificate under FCRA was suspended for six months (and later extended) over five alleged violations.
CHRI had moved the HC at the time seeking quashing of the suspension order. As an interim relief, the court had allowed CHRI to use 25% of the FC towards payment of salaries to staff and consultants on humanitarian grounds. However, CHRI’s challenge to the suspension order was dismissed in February 2022.
