Illustration used for representation

NEW DELHI: The ministry of home affairs has issued notices to 3,292 NGOs/associations including Delhi University, JNU, IGNOU, IIT Madras and others asking them to submit their annual returns from 2011-12 to 2016-17 within the next 15 days or face cancellation of licence under FCRA 2010.

In an order issued this week, the ministry has asked the associations registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) 2010 to submit their mandatory annual returns for these six years on the FCRA portal online "immediately".

According to the rule, those NGOs/organisations which do not receive funds from foreign countries are also required to furnish a 'nil' return for the respective financial years.

The ministry has issued the notices to 3,292 physically while stating, "If you failed to submit any of the missing return(s) within this time period (2011-12 to 2016-17), appropriate action under the section 14 (cancellation) of the FCRA, 2010 would be initiated against your association for the said violation," stated the order.

Some of the associations/NGOs which have been sent notices this week include prominent higher education institutions like University of Delhi, JNU, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), IIT Madras, School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) Delhi, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) among others.

"This is the final opportunity these organisations have," said a senior MHA official.

The ministry had last year barred some of these institutions including IGNOU, DU, JNU, SPA Delhi and others from receiving foreign funds as they failed to file their annual returns.

In 2017, several opportunities were given to the defaulting NGOs/institutions to provide the details of their income and expenditure, receipt of funds from abroad and balance-sheets without paying any penalty but a large number of these organisations are yet to adhere to the MHA orders.

The Narendra Modi government has adopted a tough stance on NGOs/associations which receive funding from abroad since it came to power in 2014.

It informed Parliament on April 3 this year that licences of more than 14,000 NGOs/associations have been cancelled in the last four years.

The non-government organisations, business entities and individuals who receive funds from abroad have also been recently asked to open accounts in any of the 32 designated banks for higher level of transparency. The ministry, in an order issued in December 2017, asked the organisations to make sure that funds are not utilised for activities detrimental to the national interest.

It had also asked the NGOs/organisations registered under FCRA seeking/receiving foreign funds to register themselves with a Niti Aayog portal - Darpan - and also get a Unique Darpan Identification Number (UDIN) if they wish to continue receiving funds from outside India.

