FCRA Bill should be referred to Parliamentary Subject Committee: KCBC

The Foreign Contribution (Amendment) Regulation Bill should be referred to the Parliamentary Subject Committee, the Kerala Catholic Bishop’s Council (KCBC) has written to the Prime Minister.

A public hearing should be held and the Bill needs to be subjected to detailed discussions, said Fr. Thomas Tharayil, deputy secretary general of the KCBC at a press meet here. The KCBC has written to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister raising these demands.

“Further studies and discussions are needed as the provisions in the Bill could lead to the shutting down of operations of the organisations and transfer all the powers, funds, and assets to the designated authority if the FCRA certificate is cancelled,” said Mr. Tharayil.

Calling the move unconstitutional, he said the activities being carried out using foreign funds required local contributions too. “It is mandatory that whatever is built using foreign funds should also have local contribution. Once the renewal of the licence for these organisations is rejected, it leads to direct transfer of the assets and funds to the designated authority, whereby decades of investment and work ​could get shut down. This ​could lead to the closure of schools or orphanages and any other non-profits,” said Mr. Tharayil.

“There is already a situation where in FCRA accounts of many legally operating voluntary organisations, including those of the Catholic Church, are not being renewed​. In addition, new bureaucratic systems with uncontrolled power could create crises in the voluntary sector,” he said.

Noting that there was already a strong law in place to oversee foreign contributions, Mr. Tharayil said the amendment could push all organisations receiving foreign contributions to jeopardy.

“No organisation receives contributions without the Central government’s knowledge. We have huge concerns as organisations tend to lose the licence over flimsy reasons,” he added.

“It is worrying that these amendments create many possibilities for abuse of power, which can easily seize even the public and educational institutions built by voluntary organisations, regardless of religion or caste​,” he added.