MHA restores FCRA registration of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has restored the registration of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration after it "submitted necessary documents" needed to avail the Centre's facility. 

"Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, a Catholic religious congregation set up by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, was restored on January 7," said MHA sources on Saturday. On December 25 last year, the MHA refused to renew the FCRA licence of Mother Teresa NGO's due to some "adverse inputs".

After the MHA rejected Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity request for licence renewal on December 25, the NGO secured a place among those 5,789 entities who lost their registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) on the ground of their failure in submitting a renewal application to enjoy the facility despite several reminders from the government. 

After the political uproar for rejecting the FCRA licence of Missionaries of Charity, the MHA then issued a statement mentioning that "the renewal application under FCRA of Missionaries of Charity (MoC) was refused on December 25 for not meeting the eligibility conditions under FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011". 

"No request or revision application has been received from MoC for review of this refusal of renewal," the statement read. The MoC was registered "under FCRA vide Registration No 147120001 and its registration was valid up to October 31, 2021. 

The validity was subsequently extended up-to December 31, 2021, along with other FCRA Associations whose renewal applications were pending renewal". 

"However, while considering the MoC's renewal application, some adverse inputs were noticed. In consideration of these inputs on record, the renewal application of MoC was not approved. MHA did not freeze any accounts of MoC. State Bank of India has informed that MoC itself sent a request to SBI to freeze its accounts," the MHA statement then mentioned.