MHA restores FCRA licence of Missionaries of Charity, can receive foreign funding again

The licence to collect foreign donations was restored to the Mother Theresa-founded Missionaries of Charity (MoC) by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), 13 days after it revoked it following "some adverse inputs".

The rejection of renewal of MoC's application on December 25 had triggered a controversy with critics sarcastically calling it a "Christmas gift" that could end up crippling the organisation's capacity to help the poor and the destitute.

On Friday, the MHA restored the licence to the MoC, whose registration number is 147120001, enabling it to collect funds from abroad under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 and utilise the money lying in its around 250 accounts across the country.

Also read: UK drilling down on charity licences in India, House of Lords told

There was no official statement issued by the government but sources said the restoration of licence came after the MoC submitted "necessary" documents. The MHA had not clarified what were the "adverse inputs" it received against MoC.

The MoC was among around 6,000 NGOs, including Oxfam India, whose licence expired on the midnight of December 31. Oxfam India has said that it has appealed to the MHA to restore its registration to collect foreign funds.

"The FCRA registration for Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity is back. The ‘adverse inputs’ harassed so many and then disappeared in two weeks. The POWER OF LOVE is stronger than the power of 56 inch," Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O'Brien tweeted.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram tweeted, “FCRA nod for Missionaries of Charity restored… Guess public opinion & international reaction yielded this.”

Following the controversy, the MHA had clarified that it has rejected its application but has not frozen its account. It also said that the State Bank of India (SBI) has informed that MoC itself sent a request to the bank to freeze its accounts while the MoC said it has its officials not to use the account.

When the issue of rejection of application came out, there was criticism, including from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik released over Rs 78 lakh to Missionary of Charity to run over a dozen institutes in the state after directing all District Collectors to ensure that no unit of the MoC, operating in the state, should face any financial crisis and if necessary use the chief minister's relief fund to help them.

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