FCRA: Delhi HC tells Centre to approach single judge against order allowing CHRI to withdraw ₹20 lakh

The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Central government to move an application before the single judge seeking vacation of the order allowing non-profit Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) to withdraw ₹20 lakh from its reserve funds [Union of India v. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative].  

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia disposed of the Central government’s appeal against the May 19, 2026, order. Instead, it asked the government to move an application before the single judge.

The Court asked the judge to expedite the proceedings and decide the pleas as early as possible. 

“We thus request the single judge to expedite the proceedings of the writ petition, and the application to be moved by the appellant [Central government] under this order and to decide the same as early as possible,” the Court ordered. 

It added that the parties will be at liberty to press any pending applications and that all issues and grounds will be open to be pressed, including the grounds of maintainability.

The single judge is seized of CHRI’s plea challenging the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order cancelling its Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration in September 2024. The order to release ₹20 lakh was passed in the same plea after CHRI moved an application.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma appeared for the Central government before the Division Bench today and argued that the single judge passed the order without issuing any notice to the government. 

Sharma added that the government was deprived of any opportunity to file objections or reply to the application and though oral arguments were permitted, the judge ought to have allowed them to file written objections. 

Senior Advocate Chander Uday Singh appeared for CHRI and told the Bench that after the May 19 order, the government filed an application for its recall, but it was permitted to be withdrawn with liberty to file another application seeking appropriate relief, including vacation of the order. 

After considering the case, the Division Bench said that it is not going into the merits of the single judge’s order. It said that the single judge’s order is interim and the government can seek its vacation. 

“In view of the aforesaid, we dispose of this appeal with liberty to the appellant to move an application to vacate the order…The said application shall be made within a week. Reply/response, if any, may be filed by the respondent within a week thereafter,” the Court added.