New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS): The government on Tuesday told Lok Sabha that they have not denied renewal of licences to about 6,000 organisations under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), rather the registration deemed to have ceased as they failed to apply within stipulated time."

In fact, about 5,800 FCRA registered associations had not submitted their applications for renewal within stipulated time in accordance with the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010," Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

FCRA registration of these associations was thus deemed to have ceased as per section 12 of the FCRA, 2010.

The Minister said that in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government had given certain relaxations to NGOs so that welfare programmes and Covid related relief works were not affected. "Validity of registration certificates of NGOs expiring between September 29, 2020 to December 31, 2021 has been extended till December 31, 2021. The validity has been further extended with certain conditions up to March 31, 2022. Time period to file Annual Returns for the year 2019-20 was extended by six months i.e. till June 30, 2021," the Minister's written reply read.

Responding to the question whether the Government has recently restored or granted FCRA registration to some charity organisations, the Minister said Section 32 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 provides for revision by the Central Government of any order passed in a proceeding against any association registered under the Act. The application for revision is considered and disposed of on merits under the above provision of the Act.

"Since November, 2021 the FCRA certificate of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), New Delhi and Missionaries of Charity (MoC), Kolkata was renewed by way of revision," the Minister added.