Months after an Income Tax raid, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday suspended the FCRA licence of prominent public think-tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR) for six months over violation of laws.
According to officials, there were lots of violations found in the acceptance of foreign donations by the NGO. The CPR was under scrutiny after Income Tax surveys on it and Oxfam India in September last year.
With the suspension of its FCRA licence, the CPR will not be able to receive any funds from abroad. The donors of CPR included the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania, the World Resources Institute and the Duke University, officials said.
According to CPR’s website, its founder is Pai Panindiker and former members of the governing board include former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Chief Justice of India, the late, YV Chandrachud.
The think-tank has been asked to give clarification and documents regarding FCRA funds received by it, the officials said. The FCRA licence of CPR was last renewed in 2016 and was due for renewal in 2021. In its statement, the CPR said the Ministry of Home Affairs has intimated it that its registration under the FCRA has been suspended for a period of 180 days. In September 2022, the Income Tax Department conducted a survey at CPR’s premises, and as part of the survey follow-up process, CPR received several notices from the department, it said. Following due process, detailed and exhaustive responses have been submitted to the department, the NGO said.
Oxfam’s FCRA licence was suspended in January last year, after which the NGO had filed a revision petition with the Home Ministry.
“CPR has and continues to cooperate fully with the authorities. We are in complete compliance with the law and are routinely scrutinised and audited by government authorities, including the Comptroller and Auditor General of India,” said the NGO in a statement. The CPR said it has annual statutory audits, and all its annual audited balance sheets are in the public domain and “there is no question of having undertaken any activity that is beyond our objects of association and compliance mandated by law”.
The CPR was founded in 1973 and it has been one of India’s leading policy research institutions, home to several eminent thinkers and policy practitioners. CPR said it is an independent, non-partisan institution that conducts its work with complete academic and financial integrity.