Mumbai: The Bombay high court, while observing that the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) “does not provide for a government to stifle the very functioning of individuals or associations” ordered defreezing of the domestic and non-FCRA bank accounts of Lawyers Collective, an NGO run by former additional solicitor general Indira Jaising. The ministry of home affairs (MHA) had cancelled the FCRA registration of Lawyers Collective in November 2016 alleging misuse of foreign funds and froze of all its bank accounts.
Justice MS Sonak was hearing the NGO’s appeal seeking defreezing of its bank accounts as it was affecting its day to day functioning which included extensive legal research in the fields of health and social justice. Advocate Aspi Chinoy, senior counsel appearing for the NGO, informed the court that FCRA provisions allowed for disposal of assets of only those organisations that had become defunct, but the NGO was an existing entity.
In November 2016, MHA had permanently cancelled Lawyers Collective’s FCRA registration and also directed that all bank accounts of the NGO be frozen and that its assets be attached. The NGO then approached the HC arguing that the MHA order that takes recourse of sections 22 and 15 of the FCRA was erroneous and that the sections had been misinterpreted.
Additional solicitor general Anil Singh justified the cancellation of FCRA registration of the NGO by MHA on the grounds that MHA found that the “trustees of Lawyers Collective had diverted the money received for the NGO for personal gains”. Justice Sonak, however, observed that some of the allegations levelled by MHA were “quite vague” and since the appeal will be taken up for final hearing to decide upon the legality of the MHA’s decision, it would not be appropriate to halt the functioning of the NGO. In an interim order, he restrained the charity commissioner from attaching the assets and accounts of the NGO and also ordered defreezing of the domestic and non-FCRA bank accounts of the NGO.
