The Missionaries of Charity Sisters. Photo source, www.missionariesofcharity.org
State Bank of India informed that Missionaries of Charity itself sent a request to SBI to freeze its accounts
Renewal application under FCRA for renewal of FCRA registration refused due to adverse inputs
No request / revision application has been received from Missionaries of Charity for review of refusal of renewal
New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today stated that it did not freeze any accounts of Missionaries of Charity (MoC), and clarified that the State Bank of India (SBI) had informed that MoC itself sent a request to SBI to freeze its accounts.
The MoC is the “Spiritual Family” founded by Mother Teresa in 1950. It is a religious community in the Catholic Church, and dedicates itself to “the service of the poorest of the poor, irrespective of social class, creed or colour”.
The MHA said the renewal application under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act,, 2010 (FCRA) for the renewal of FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity (MoC) was refused on December 25 Dec 2021 as the MOC did not meet the eligibility conditions under FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011.
The Ministry further claimed that no request / revision application had been received from Missionaries of Charity (MoC) for review of this refusal of renewal.
Missionaries of Charity (MoC) 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 application were pending renewal.
However, while considering the MoC’s renewal application, some adverse inputs were noticed, the MHA stated, and added that 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.
Earlier in the day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in a tweet expressed her shock that on Christmas, Union Ministry had frozen 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,” she had tweeted.
