NEW DELHI: To plug loopholes and check any inadvertent renewal of FCRA licence of any NGO with dubious track record, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has roped in National Informatics Centre (NIC) to develop a software and synergise online platforms of the registration/renewal and monitoring units of the FCRA Wing under the ministry.
The move comes close on the heels of over a dozen NGOs getting renewal of FCRA licences after they were cancelled for anti-national activities. NGOs including Sabrang Trust, Greenpeace India and Citizens for Peace and Justice among others had applied online in March for renewal of their existing FCRA licence granted for five years. Their licences were cancelled in June during the pendency of their renewal application and “inadvertently” renewed by the dealing officer of the Monitoring Unit in October.
The MHA has ordered an audit of NGOs whose FCRA licences were renewed or granted fresh permissions recently. “The decision move to rope in NIC has been taken to make the system fool-proof and plug any systemic loopholes in facilitations by the FCRA,” said a ministry official.