No. II/21022/58(79)/2019-FCRA(MU)
Government of India
Ministry of Home Affairs
Foreigners Division
FCRA (Monitoring Unit)
***
MDC National Stadium,
New Delhi, the 18th March, 2020
Subject:- Exemption from the provisions of section 14(3) of The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA, 2010) – regarding
Section 18 of The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 read with rule 17 of The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011 provides for submission of Annual Returns by all Associations who have been granted certificate of registration or prior permission.
2. The Central Government vide notification dated 14th December, 2015 made it mandatory for all Associations having certificate of registration or prior permission to file their Annual Returns (ARs) only in electronic format on the web portal fcraonline.nic.in
3. For non-submission of ARs for the year 2017-18 , FCRA registration of many Associations was cancelled under section 14 of the FCRA, 2010 .Consequent to such cancellation , the Associations are no more eligible for registration or grant of prior permission for a period of three years from the date of cancellation of their certificate.
4. Many NGOs/Associations are representing for review of the cancellation of their FCRA certificates explaining their circumstances that led to non-filing of Annual Return for 2017-18 . Reasons cited by them include inter-alia, (a) they depended upon their accountant or CA firms , who somehow ignored the deadlines (b) local difficulties like floods etc. (c) mishandling of log-in/passwords by their CAs and other functionaries . One common grievance raised by most of them is that now all FCRA process is online and in many cases the online account is operated by their CA or tax-consultant , who are not aware of the strict monitoring by the Ministry. These Associations have submitted that they never intended to avoid statutory compliances under the Act.
5. In view of representations made by many such Associations , and in exercise of powers conferred on central government under section 50 of the FCRA, 2010 a onetime exemption is hereby granted in public interest to such Associations from the restrictive condition of section 14(3) of the Act to enable them to apply for registration within 60 days from the issuance of this notice provided that such Associations shall submit missing ARs electronically on the FCRA Portal along with the prescribed penalty.
(Santosh Sharma)
Director (MU-I)
Tele: 011-23077510
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No. 963913/JS(F)/2017
Government of India
Ministry of Home Affairs
Foreigners Division (FCRA Wing)
MDC National Stadium
New Delhi, the August 01, 2019
PUBLIC NOTICE
Subject : Exemption from the provisions of section 14(3) of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.
Section 18 of The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 read with rule 17 of The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011 provides for submission of Annual Returns by all associations who have been granted certificate of registration or prior permission.
2. The Central Govt. vide notification dated 14th December, 2015 made it mandatory for all associations having certificate of registration or prior permission to file their Annual Returns (ARs) only in electronic format on the web portal fcraonline.nic.in. Before issuance of this notice all the FCRA services were granted to various NGOs through physical mode. Several NGOs could not file their ARs in time despite opportunities given to them earlier.
3. For non-submission of ARs, FCRA registration of many associations was cancelled under section 14 of the FCRA, 2010. Consequent to such cancellation, the associations are no more eligible for registration or grant of prior permission for a period of three years from the date of cancellation of their certificate. Representations requesting restoration of such registrations have been received from associations. Many such associations have also applied afresh for registration which was refused on account of their debarment for three years.
4. In view of repeated representations made by many such associations, it has been decided to give a one-time exemption in public interest to such associations from the restrictive condition of section 14(3) to enable them to apply for registration within three months from the issuance of this notice. Government has further decided that for uploading missing ARs on the FCRA Portal, no penalty shall be imposed.
5. This exemption is a one-time measure and available only to those associations whose certificates have been cancelled only because of non-filing of ARs. In case of other violations of the provisions of the FCRA, 2010 which are compoundable as per notification issued No. S.O. 2291(E) dated 05.06.2018 read with corrigendum No. S.O. 3716(E) dated 27.07.2018 the associations shall have to ensure that these violations except non-submission of ARs are compounded before making fresh application for grant of registration or prior permission.
(Santosh Sharma)
Director (FCRA)
Tele. 23077510
If the application is accepted & appicant is ignorant of the time period of reapplication , he applies again in 6 months his application is accepted and fees of₹5000:00 is also accepted . After 10 months they reject application citing rule 14(3). Means his appication is rejected .in this situations application fees must be returned .in first place the appication should not be accepted online only . Waiting 10 months for such reply .?