Government gives final opportunity to all NGOs to file their annual returns

Government has given a final opportunity to all NGOs to file their annual returns by June 14, which did not disclose income and expenditure statements leading to cancellation of their FCRA registration.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said all NGOs which were registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA) but did not file their annual returns from 2010-11 to 2014-15 were given the final chance.

The government has given one final opportunity to all associations or organisations which have applied for renewal of their registration under the FCRA but not uploaded their annual returns from financial year 2010-11 to 2014-15, a home ministry spokesperson said.

All such NGOs can upload their missing annual returns along with the requisite documents within 30 days, starting May 15 to June 14. No compounding fee will be imposed on them for late filing of annual returns during this period.

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This exemption is a one-time measure, available to those associations which upload their missing annual returns from 2010-11 to 2014-15 within this period.

The renewal of registration under FCRA cannot be granted unless the annual returns are uploaded by the organisation, the spokesperson said.

The government has already cancelled registration of more than 10,000 NGOs in the last three years for non-filing of annual returns as mandated in the FCRA.

In addition, renewals of more than 1,300 NGOs have been denied or closed in recent past for allegedly violating various provisions of the FCRA.

In November, 2016, the government had directed more than 11,000 NGOs to file applications for renewal of registration by February 28, 2017.

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Of the above, 3,500 NGOs have filed applications for renewal till February. Registration of more than 7,000 NGOs were deemed expired due to non-filing of renewal applications.