In a bid to clean up the mess on receipt of foreign donations, the Union Home Ministry on Tuesday issued show-cause notice to around 10,300 NGOs which were not filing mandatory annual returns for the past five years.
This blanket action from the MHA’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Division is the first time after several controversies erupted about the errant NGOs and their dubious activities.
The Ministry has also uploaded the names of defaulting NGOs which includes mainly Christian religious organisations. The huge list uploaded on the Ministry’s website also includes the names of Government/PSU and Corporate-controlled NGOs.
“The defaulting associations are being asked to submit the proof of submission of returns within one month and in case they have not filed the returns, justification as to why there registration under FCRA, 2010 should not be cancelled. In case no reply is received from the associations, action for cancellation of registration granted to the association will be initiated under FCRA 2010,” said the statement issued by MHA.
The notices were issued to NGOs which were not filing annual returns from 2009. According to the list of errant NGOs, the highest is from Andhra Pradesh including Telangana (1441) followed by Uttar Pradesh (1167), and Tamil Nadu (1108).
As many as 990 NGOs from Maharashtra, 821 from Karnataka followed by West Bengal (748), Bihar (655), Odisha (655) and Kerala (638) are also on the defaulting list. In Delhi, 400 NGOs have been served the show cause notice.