CAN TAP FOREIGN FUNDS

Govt restores FCRA licence as MoC rectifies violations

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Bharti Jain & SubhroNiyogi TNN

09.01.2022

New Delhi/Kolkata: The Union home ministry has restored the registration of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity (MoC) under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, after the charity rectified the accounts-related violations that had been flagged while rejecting its application for renewal of the licence to receive funds from abroad. The Kolkata-based NGO also informed the ministry that it had terminated the services of a staffer accused of child trafficking in Jharkhand.

The MHA’s move reopens the option of foreign funding for MoC, besides enabling it to utilise the money already lying in its FCRA account. “The power of love and service has won. We thank God for touching the hearts of the authorities and showing them thetruth. We thank the authorities for seeing the truth. Our beloved saint, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, continues to guide and lead her congregation in serving the poorest of the poor,” Catholic Association of Bengal president Angelina Mantosh Jasnani said.

Sources told TOI that soon after its licence-renew-al plea was rejected by the MHA on December 25 on grounds of “adverse inputs”, MoC functionaries met ministry officials to clarify that they had rectified the FCRA violations for which legal notices had been served. These included violations for which the charity had paid penalties, an officer said. The violations mainly pertained to transfer of FCRA funds between various accounts, besides purchase of a vehicle.

Another adverse input against MoC was related to the child trafficking case registered in Jharkhand, naming an office-bearer of the charity as one of the accused. The organisation informed the MHA through an affidavit that the staffer had been sacked. It disowned two other accused in the case, saying they were not its office-bearers. Proceedings in the case are underway.