Delhi HC seeks Centre’s stand on cancellation of RGF's FCRA registration

New Delhi, Nov 23 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought the Centre’s stand on an appeal filed by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF).

The appeal challenges the government's cancellation of their registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

The RGF counts former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Minister P. Chidambaram, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi among its trustees.

Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust has also filed an appeal in the matter. Sonia Gandhi, also a Congress leader, heads both of these non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

On Thursday, a single-judge bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh asked the Centre to show cause why the appeal by the RGF should not be admitted and instead be dismissed at this stage itself.

In response, the Centre’s counsel deemed it unmaintainable in the form of an appeal and said that a petition should have been filed.

On the other hand, the counsel for the NGO said the appeal was maintainable under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 and urged the court to issue formal notice on it to the authorities.

Earlier, this year, the court had sent a notice to the central government in the matter.

Justice Jyoti Singh had issued a notice while expressing dissatisfaction with the fact that it took eight hearings to issue the notice, as the government had requested adjournments on at least four occasions.

Despite the government counsel's request for a pass over, Justice Singh had stated that she would take notice of the matter.

"This is a Regular First Appeal (RFA). It cannot be dismissed immediately. Eight dates have already passed, so let's be a little practical... Eight dates just for this," the bench remarked.

The RGF's FCRA registration was cancelled in October 2022 by the Union Home Ministry for allegedly violating the foreign funding law.

As per MHA, the FCRA licence of the foundation has been cancelled due to violation of foreign funding rules.

The MHA had also constituted a committee in 2020 to probe this. This decision has been taken on the basis of the report by the same inquiry committee.

According to sources, the RGF came under the scanner in July, 2020. The MHA then constituted an inter-ministerial committee headed by an Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer to investigate NGOs, including the RGF, linked to the Gandhi family.

The foundation was accused of tampering with income tax returns, including suspected FCRA violations. The RGF was established in 1991. For many years, this foundation worked on important issues regarding health, science and technology, women, children and education, etc.