The NGOs have been requested to reply by July 23. Action will be taken by Home Ministry under FCRA
Some 6,000 non-governmental organisations or NGOs could lose their licence to receive foreign donations with the Home Ministry serving them show cause notices allegedly for not filing annual income and expenditure records for five consecutive years, an official said today.
The show cause notices were issued on July 8 and the NGOs have time till July 23 to reply. In May, 18,523 NGOs were given a one-time opportunity by the Home Ministry to give details of their income and expenses by June 14.
These NGOs, registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, or FCRA, which allows them to receive foreign donations, were told to submit their annual returns for five years -- 2010-11 to 2014-15.
The Home Ministry said in a circular that as a one-time measure, all NGOs were given an opportunity for one month to file their missing annual returns by June 14 without paying any penalty.
Email and SMS alerts were also sent to them regularly for one month beginning mid-May, the official said. "However, in spite of sufficient and adequate notice, it has been observed that 5,922 associations have not uploaded their annual returns for three or more than three years within the stipulated time given in the notice," the circular said.
The NGOs have been requested to reply by July 23, failing which it will be presumed that they have nothing to say and action will be taken by the Home Ministry under the FCRA, it said.
According to the FCRA, renewal of registration for receiving foreign funds cannot be granted unless the annual returns are uploaded on the FCRA website by the organisation. Over 20,000 NGOs are registered under the FCRA.