The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Saturday, 8 January, restored the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration for Missionaries of Charity (MoC), a religious congregation established by Mother Teresa in 1950.
The congregation was denied a renewal for the registration on 25 December, 2021, six days before it expired, over "audit irregularities," a senior government official told The Hindu.
The registration allows organisations to accept and use foreign contributions and funding.
News agency ANI reported that the registration was reinstated after MoC submitted "necessary document to concerned department (sic)."
Shortly after the cancellation of renewal was announced, rumours of the congregation's accounts being frozen went around. In a statement, Missionaries of Charity clarified that neither had their existing registration been cancelled, nor had any of their accounts been frozen, and that they had been informed by the MHA.
However to ensure there was no lapse, MoC said, "...We have asked our centres not to operate any of the FC accounts until the matter is resolved.”
The MHA had also clarified that no accounts were suspended or frozen. The Ministry said that the renewal of FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity (MoC) was refused for allegedly “not meeting the eligibility conditions under the FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011”.
As the non-renewal disrupted the charity's work in various parts of the country, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik sanctioned aid amounting to nearly Rs 79 lakhs from the state's Chief Minister's Releif Fund (CMRF).
The move was announced in a statement from his office on Tuesday, 4 January and is expected to support 13 orphanages and leprosariums in the state, which look after over 900 people.
Other organisations whose registration had not been renewed include Oxfam India, Jamia Millia and the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
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