Delhi High Court seeks MHA response on plea by Oxfam India against non-renewal of FCRA registration

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on a plea filed by NGO, Oxfam India challenging the government’s refusal to renew its registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). .Justice Prathiba M Singh directed the MHA to file its response within four weeks and listed the matter for further consideration in April. .During the hearing today, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma appeared for the MHA and stated that the government has material against the Oxfam, based on which decision to suspend its FCRA license was taken.Senior Advocate Ramesh Singh appeared for Oxfam and said that the government is not allowing them to use the ₹21 crore which was in the account before suspension of FCRA registration. .The Centre had refused to renew Oxfam’s FCRA registration in December 2021. The NGO filed a revision application against the order in January 2022. However, no decision was taken on the application for months after which the petitioner came to court. In an order passed November 11, 2022 the High Court had ordered the Central government to decide the application within six weeks. The application was then rejected by the MHA through an order passed on December 1, 2022. In its plea, filed through Advocate Prabhsahay Kaur, Oxfam has argued that by virtue of the dismissal of the petitioner's application, the government has closed all doors for them to seek renewal of its FCRA registration, essentially amounting to depreciating their work in India. In rejecting the application, the respondent (MHA) has turned a blind eye towards the colossal work done by the petitioner over the past many decades in the social sector, the plea stated. "... outright rejection of the Petitioner's renewal has not only impacted the Petitioner, but also adversely affected, and continues to affect on each day, multiple social projects running in 16 states, impacting 1akhs of people in the country, such as Flood relief, Covid-19 relief, Women Support Centres, providing nutritious meals to underprivileged children, capacity building and training workshops for multiple stakeholders, etc," the plea argued. .The court has been told that because of the non-renewal of its FCRA license, Oxfam has shut down seven of its regional offices and lost nearly 180 of its 252 employees in the country. It has been stated that Oxfam is working in nearly 300 villages in India and is engaged in 15 significant projects. But because of the suspension of licence, barring three-four of these projects, funded through domestic money, rest have come to a grinding halt.