HC to hear in July pleas by 2 NGOs headed by Sonia Gandhi challenging cancellation of FCRA licences

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the RGF as well as the RGCT. The trustees of the RGF are former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former finance minister P Chidambaram, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday said it would hear in July the issue of maintainability of two petitions by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust challenging the cancellation of their Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licences. Both the NGOs are headed by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.

Justice Jyoti Singh listed the two pleas for hearing on July 18 after the counsel for the central government raised the issue of maintainability. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had in October last year cancelled the FCRA licences of the two NGOs for alleged violation of laws.The action had come following investigations carried out by an inter-ministerial committee formed by the MHA in 2020.

The FCRA licences of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) and the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) have been cancelled after investigations against these NGOs, an official had earlier said. The investigations covered alleged manipulation of documents while filing of income-tax returns, misuse of funds, and money laundering while receiving funds from foreign countries, including China.

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the RGF as well as the RGCT. The trustees of the RGF are former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former finance minister P Chidambaram, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Suman Dubey and Ashok Ganguly.

The trustees of the RGCT are Rahul Gandhi, Ashok Ganguly, Bansi Mehta and Deep Joshi. Set up in 1991, the RGF worked on a number of critical issues, including health, science and technology, women and children and disability support, till 2009. It also worked in the education sector, according to its website.

The RGCT was established in 2002 to address the development needs of the underprivileged people of the country, especially the rural poor. It currently works in the poorest regions of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana through two development initiatives -- the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana (RGMVP) and the Indira Gandhi Eye Hospital and Research Centre (IGEHRC), according to the RGCT's website. (PTI)