The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday issued a clarification over freezing accounts of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity and said it did not pass orders to freeze any accounts of MoC. According to an official release by the ministry, the State Bank of India has informed that MoC itself sent a request to SBI to freeze its accounts.
The MHA said that the renewal application under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) for the renewal of FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity (MoC) was refused on December 25, 2021, for not meeting the eligibility conditions under FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011.
The MHA also said that no request/revision application has been received from Missionaries of Charity for review of this refusal of renewal. “Missionaries of Charity was registered under FCRA vide Registration No 147120001 and its registration was valid up to October 31, 2021. The validity was subsequently extended up to December 31, 2021, along with other FCRA Associations whose renewal applications were pending renewal,” the ministry said.
However, while considering the Missionaries of Charity’s renewal application, some adverse inputs were noticed, the ministry said. “In consideration of these inputs on record, the renewal application of MoC was not approved. The FCRA registration of MoC was valid up to December 31, 2021. The MHA did not freeze any accounts of MoC. State Bank of India has informed that MoC itself sent a request to SBI to freeze its accounts,” Home Ministry said.
In a statement, Missionaries of Charity said, “We would like to clarify that the FCRA registration of the Missionaries of Charity has been neither suspended or cancelled. Further, there is no freeze order by the Ministry of Home Affairs on any of our bank accounts. We have been informed that our FCRA renewal application has not been approved. Therefore, as a measure to ensure there is no lapse, we have asked our centres not to operate any of the FC accounts until the matter is resolved.”
The freezing of account has become a political issue now and the first reaction has come from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. “Shocked to hear that on Christmas, Union Ministry FROZE ALL BANK ACCOUNTS of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in India! Their 22,000 patients & employees have been left without food & medicines. While the law is paramount, humanitarian efforts must not be compromised,” Banerjee, who is also TMC supremo, tweeted.
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