Home Ministry Suspends FCRA licence Of Think-tank CPR Over Alleged Violation Of Tax Rules

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has suspended the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act registration of the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), a Delhi-based think tank, for a period of 180 days.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs has intimated the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) that its registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act has been suspended for a period of 180 days." the think-tank said in a statement.

FCRA registrations are granted to individuals or organisations that run programs and initiatives in cultural, economic, educational, religious, and social areas

The registration is granted after MHA performs due diligence with the help of the Intelligence Bureau and police machinery to check the antecedents and credentials of the applicants. The registrations of any NGO, which are usually granted for a period of five years, can be cancelled if they are found to violate the Act.

"The registration was suspended as prime facie violation of FCRA provisions were found," The Hindu reported quoting a senior government official. 

The CRP last renewed the FCRA licence in 2016, and the government gave an extension to renew the license during the Covid pandemic.

"We are in complete compliance with the law and are routinely scrutinised and audited by government authorities, including the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. We have annual statutory audits, and all our annual audited balance sheets are in the public domain. There is no question of having undertaken any activity that is beyond our objects of association and compliance mandated by law." the statement by CPR further said

CPR counts the Ford Foundation, the Australian High Commission, Institute of Development Studies among its donors.

The think-tank is currently headed by Yamini Aiyar, daughter of senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar.

According to its website, CPR is a non-profit, non-partisan independent institution dedicated to conducting research that contributes to high-quality scholarship, better policies and more robust public discourse. It was established in 1973.

In September 2022, the IT department conducted an Income Tax survey at the CPR premises. During surveys, I-T officials look into documents such as books of accounts, bank accounts, cash, stock and non-valuable documents.

The search was reported to be carried out based on "credible information" about tax evasion.