FCRA cancellation: Delhi HC seeks Centre reply on CHRI plea
FCRA cancellation: Delhi HC seeks Centre reply on CHRI plea
New Delhi, The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Centre to respond to a plea of civil society organisation Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative challenging the cancellation of its FCRA registration.
Justice Sachin Datta issued a notice on the petition and granted time to the authorities for the reply.
The petitioner sought an interim stay in the matter, but the court posted the matter in April.
The plea said the Centre, without providing an opportunity to the petitioner to be heard, cancelled its certificate of registration on September 12, 2024 in violation of the principles of natural justice aside from its statutory and fundamental rights.
The registration of the petitioner’s registration was suspended by the Centre in June, 2021.
The cancellation order, the petition said, was unreasonable, unreasoned, vague, without any application of mind and based on wholly incorrect facts, and that the allegation of violation of Foreign Contribution Act against it was misconceived.
The plea claimed the order was based on certain reports of the central security agency and other inputs available with the ministry not within its knowledge.
The authorities, the plea alleged, failed to establish that CHRI was "guilty of diversion or misutilisation of its funds" and argued foreign contributions were utilised for the purpose it was granted and not diverted or misused.
"In the absence of such a finding, and neither any law/policy restricting the utilisation of foreign contribution abroad, nor any establishment by the respondent for diversion/misutilisation of funds, prima facie, there is no case for cancellation of petitioner's certificate of registration on the ground that foreign contribution was diverted or misutilised," the plea said.
The action was disproportionate as the authorities failed to prove how the cancellation of registration served to protect or further national interest, it added.
Saying the violations were alleged after an "undue delay", i.e., in 2021 the petitioner sought permission from court to access its bank accounts as it was gravely affecting its welfare activities.
"Since the suspension order, petitioner's receipt and utilisation bank accounts stand frozen. This has severely restricted petitioner's programmes and activities. Therefore, the petitioner is now not in a position to pay salaries to all of its staff members and consultants, whose livelihoods depend on it," CHRI said.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.