Point of law: By the time suspension order was passed, the Central Government had neither issued any notice of hearing/Show Cause notice in terms of sub-section (2) of Section 14 nor had it initiated an inquiry in terms of the said Section.

JUDGMENT :

V. KAMESWAR RAO, J

1. This petition has been filed by the petitioner with the following prayers:

“The Petitioner, therefore, prays that in the facts and circumstances of the present case this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to:

a) Issue a writ, order, or direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the Impugned Suspension Order dated June 07, 2021, Number F.No. II/21022/58(855)/2016-FCRA(MU} passed by the Deputy Secretary to the Government of India, Foreigners Division [FCRA Monitoring Unit], Ministry of Home Affairs under Section 13 of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010.

b) Pass such other and further orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.”

2. It is the case of the petitioner, being Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (hereinafter, ‘CHRI’) that it is an independent, non-profit, civil society organisation, headquartered in New Delhi, India since 1993, working to promote access to justice, access to information and timely fulfilment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in India and in Commonwealth countries. The petitioner was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 on July 21, 1993.

3. It is stated in the petition that several institutions of the Central and State Governments including Human Rights Commissions, Central and State Information Commissions, law enforcement agencies and legal aid authorities, recognise the petitioner as a resource partner in the domains of police and prison reform and transparency in governance.

4. On September 03, 1993, the petitioner was granted a Certificate of Registration No. 231650671 under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 1976. Thereafter, on October 28, 2016, the petitioner’s registration was renewed up to October 31, 2021, under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (hereinafter, “FCRA, 2010”).

5. On June 07, 2021, the petitioner’s FCRA Registration was suspended for 180 days under Section 13 of the FCRA, 2010 pending consideration of cancellation of Certificate of Registration of the petitioner under Section 14(1)(d) of the FCRA, 2010.

6. On June 26, 2021, the petitioner communicated its response to the impugned suspension order, wherein it is stated that there was no violation of the FCRA, 2010 or Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011 (hereinafter, “FCRR, 2011”) by the petitioner as alleged. Accordingly, the petitioner requested urgent revocation of the impugned suspension order by June 30, 2021.

7. On December 01, 2021, the impugned suspension was extended for another period of 180 days. On December 07, 2021, a Show Cause Notice under Section 14(2) of the FCRA, 2010, was served on the petitioner. According to the Show Cause Notice, the respondent had authorised an audit of the petitioner’s books of accounts and activities for the first time vide order dated July 29, 2021, passed under Section 20 and Section 23 of the FCRA, 2010. The said audit was conducted from August 09, 2021, to August 14, 2021. Upon scrutiny of audited records, certain observations were drawn and shared with the petitioner vide letter dated October 07, 2021, for comments.

8. It is the case of the petitioner that the impugned order of suspension is erroneous in terms of the following finding:

(a) “Details of activities/projects for which foreign contribution has been received and utilized has not been given at the prescribed point 3(a) in FC-4 form in AR for the FY 2018-19.”

In this regard, it is stated that the response by the petitioner dated June 26, 2021, to the impugned order has duly clarified that the details of project-wise foreign contribution received and utilised during the Financial Year (hereinafter, “FY”) 2018-2019 along with the opening and closing balance of foreign contribution that has been furnished online by the petitioner in the receipts account, payments account, income account and the expenditure account for the year ended March 2018-2019. These documents were annexe