FCRA Registration Restored For Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity: MHA

FCRA license for the Nobel Laureate’s NGO, Missionaries of Charity was refused to renew by the MHA on December 25 last year due to some “adverse inputs.”

Nuns from Missionaries of Charity attend a special prayer to mark the 111th birth anniversary of Mother Teresa, near a banner with her picture at the Mother House in Kolkata | Photo: AFP

New Delhi: Nearly two weeks after the Ministry of Home Affairs had refused to renew the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) license for Mother Teresa’s NGO, Missionaries of Charity, the Ministry has restored the registration. The registration was renewed after the NGO “submitted necessary documents” needed to avail the Centre’s facility. 

"Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, a Catholic religious congregation set up by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, was restored on January 7," quoted ANI saying one of the sources at MHA on Saturday. 

FCRA license for the Nobel Laureate’s NGO, Missionaries of Charity was refused to renew by the MHA on December 25 last year due to some “adverse inputs.”

The NGO was among 5,786 entities who had lost their registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act on grounds of failure to submit a renewal application despite several notices from the government. 

Following the political uproar after FCRA license was rejected for the Missionaries of Charity, the MHA issued a statement and said, “the renewal application under FCRA of Missionaries of Charity (MoC) was refused on December 25 for not meeting the eligibility conditions under FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011".

The statement further read that no request or revision application was made by the MoC to review the Ministry’s decision to turn down request for renewal. 

The NGO was registered "under FCRA vide Registration No 147120001 and its registration was valid up to October 31, 2021. The validity was subsequently extended up-to December 31, 2021, along with other FCRA Associations whose renewal applications were pending renewal".

"However, while considering the MoC's renewal application, some adverse inputs were noticed. In consideration of these inputs on record, the renewal application of MoC was not approved. MHA did not freeze any accounts of MoC. State Bank of India has informed that MoC itself sent a request to SBI to freeze its accounts," mentioned the MHA statement.