Missionaries of Charity: Have asked our centers not to operate Foreign Contrn accounts

Kolkata, Dec 27: The Missionaries of Charity, founded by Nobel Laureate Mother Teresa, on Monday said that it has asked its centres not to operate any of the Foreign Contribution (FC) accounts as its Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration has not been renewed by the central government.
MoC Superior General Sister M Pema in a statement said the accounts would not be operated till the matter was resolved.
‘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 (foreign contribution) accounts until the matter is resolved,” the statement said.
The MoC also clarified that its FCRA registration has neither been suspended nor cancelled and the central government has not frozen any of her organisation’s bank accounts.
“FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity has neither been suspended nor canceled. Further there is no freeze ordered by the Ministry of Home Affairs on any of our bank accounts.”
The FCRA registration is a must for any non-governmental organisation or association for receiving foreign donations or funds.
Earlier in the day, several politicians and some sections of the media had claimed that the union government has ordered a freeze on the MoC’s accounts across the country.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted: “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, ” she added.
“While the law is paramount, humanitarian efforts must not be compromised,” she stated.

State CPI-M General Secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra had also expressed dismay over the reports.
However, later in the evening, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs came out with a statement clarifying that MoC’s application under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) for the renewal of FCRA registration had been refused on December 25 for ‘not meeting the eligibility conditions”. under FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011.
‘No request/revision application has been received from Missionaries of Charity (MoC) for review of this refusal of renewal,” the statement said, pointing out that MHA did not freeze any accounts of MoC.
UNI SSP GK