New Delhi: 10 months after the suspension of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) license of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), a human rights organization working in Commonwealth countries, now the central government has made the license permanent citing violation. has been quashed. After this move of the government, CHRI will not be able to get funds from abroad. Let us tell you that CHRI has been working on prison reforms, access to information, freedom of speech and civil and political rights.
According to media reports, the reason for cancellation of license is due to violations committed by CHRI last year. CHRI had not submitted the annual report for 2018-19. Along with this, CHRI also did not inform the government about the projects for which the NGO had received funds from abroad. An official has pointed out that the violations include instances where foreign money received in India by CHRI was spent outside Indian territory for the benefit of the society. Simultaneously, the NGO's consulting and professional fees for a foreign entity were shown as foreign contribution in its annual return.
The FCRA license of CHRI was suspended for 180 days by the Ministry of Home Affairs on June 7 last year and then extended for another 180 days in December 2021 in view of the violations committed by the NGO. Challenging the suspension, CHRI had reached the Delhi High Court, but in February 2022, the court refused to grant any relief to the NGO. Director-in-Charge of CHRI Venkatesh Nayak has said that we will challenge the cancellation. Soon we are going to issue a statement regarding this.
