Over 3,700 NGOs under govt radar

New Delhi: The home ministry has asked as many as 3,768 NGOs all over the country to validate their bank accounts in which they are depositing foreign donations.

In a recent directive, the ministry asked the NGOs registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to deposit all foreign contributions only in one particular bank account designated specially for this purpose.

The ministry officials said some NGOs had not validated their designated bank accounts, in which foreign contributions were being deposited. This was resulting in procedural issues for the banks since, as per provisions of the FCRA, it is mandatory for such banks to inform the home ministry within two days of such foreign deposits or its further utilisation. According to the home ministry directives, all NGOs receiving foreign contribution have to provide information of such bank accounts, utilisation of funds, account numbers, name of bank branch, code number to the ministry’s foreigners division. Officials claimed that though they have already identified 2,025 such NGOs, the number could well be close to 4,000 due to which a fresh circular has been issued.

In the last three years, the ministry has already cancelled registration of more than 10,000 NGOs for not filing their annual returns, which is mandatory as per the FCRA. Further renewal of almost 1,300 such organisations have either been denied or cancelled in last one year for violating the FCRA provisions.