FCRA Registration Eligibility

FCRA Registration Eligibility

Eligibility: Although FCRA does not distinguish between registered and unregistered organisations, normally organisations registered under Society Registration Act, 1860, the Companies Act, 1956, the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950 or as a public trust are only eligible for registration. It may be difficult for an absolutely new organisation to get FCRA registration because certain past activities and records help the FCRA authorities to determine the genuineness and relevance of the organisation.

Application for grant of registration to accept foreign contribution are to be made to the Ministry of Home Affairs in prescribed form FC-8, which can be down loaded from MHA’s website www.mha.nic.in/fcra.htm.  On receipt of the application, the same is processed by the MHA as per the provisions of Act and guidelines issued for grant of Registration.  The registration is granted only to such associations which are doing genuine work in their chosen field of activity and are clear from security angle.
An organisation having a definite cultural, economic, educational, religious or social programme shall accept foreign contribution, only after such organisation obtains a certificate of registration from the Central Government.
Any person, if it is not registered with the Central Government, can accept foreign contribution only after obtaining the prior permission of the Central Government and such prior permission shall be valid for the specific purpose for which it is obtained and from the specific source.
If the person referred as above has been found guilty of violation of any of the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976, the unutilized or unreceived amount of foreign contribution shall not be utilized or received, as the case may be, without the prior approval of the Central Government.
The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify—

Any association registered with the Central Government or granted prior permission under that section of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976, as it stood immediately before the commencement of this Act, shall be deemed to have been registered or granted prior permission, as the case may be, under this Act and such registration shall be valid for a period of five years from the date on which this section comes into force.
Application for Registration
An application for registration of an organisation for acceptance of foreign contribution shall be made electronically on-line in Form FC-3, and shall be followed by forwarding the hard copy of the on-line application duly signed by the Chief Functionary of the association together with the required documents:

The hard copy of the on-line application shall reach the Central Government within thirty days of the submission of the on-line application, failing which the request of the organisation shall be deemed to have ceased.
Any organisation whose request has ceased may make a fresh on-line application with the Central Government only after six months from the date of cessation of the previous application.
An organisation seeking registration shall be required to open an exclusive bank account to receive the foreign contribution.
The organisation may open one or more accounts in one or more banks for the purpose of utilising the foreign contribution after it has been received and, in all such cases, intimation on plain paper shall be furnished to the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs New Delhi, within fifteen days of the opening of any account.
An application made for the grant of the registration shall be accompanied by a fee of 2000/- (Two Thousand only).
The fee shall be remitted by demand draft or banker’s cheque in favour of the “Pay and Accounts Officer, Ministry of Home Affairs”, payable at New Delhi.
Time limit for making application for registration
No specific time limit has been provided under FCRA for making an application, unlike Income Tax Act, which requires an organisation to apply within one year from its creation or registration under section 12A. Normally FCRA is granted after 3 years of active existence, therefore, the application should be made after three years though nothing in the Act prevents from making such application earlier.
Relevance of three years’ audited statement : In the absence of any time limit provided in FCRA, reliance is normally made on clause 8 of Form FC-3, which provides for submission of past three years audited statement. On the basis of the requirement of form FC-3, it is normally understood that application for registration under FCRA can only be after 3 years of the creation of the organisation. But, in our opinion, under FCRA laws, there is no such restriction, which prohibits application before completion of three years.
The requirement of submission of 3 years audited statements under Form FC-3, is only directory in nature and there is no reason to make an implicit presumption of a 3years waiting period before applying for registration. Incidentally, Form FC- 4, which is the application form for seeking, prior permission also requires submission of last 3 years audited statements. Therefore, if this submission of 3 years statements is assumed to be a mandatory pre-condition, then an organisation cannot even apply for prior permission before completion of three years.
Rule does not specify any time limit - Rule 9(1)(a) of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010, provides that an application for registration of an association under section 11(1), shall be made in Form FC-3. Rule 9(1)(a), does not provides for any period of restriction only after which the application can be made. It is only the Form FC- 4 and Form FC-3, which require as a part of enclosures, 3years audited statements and detail of activities. As far as Form FC- 4 is concerned it is a foregone conclusion that if 3 years audited statements are not available, lesser number of years audited statements could be enclosed. But, somehow a confusion in practice as well as understanding seemed to have crept in that application for registration can only be made after the completion of 3 years.
Supreme court’s view - In this regard, it is pertinent to refer the Supreme Court decision in STO vs. K.I. Abraham [1967] 20 STC 367, where is was held that the rule making authority had no power to prescribe any time restriction. Infact, the FCRA rules also do not provide any restrictive time limit. It is only the requirement of Form FC- 4 as well as Form FC-3, which requires 3 years audited statements and activity reports. Such requirements are directory and general in nature and therefore, should not be construed as a mandatory requirement of the FCRA.
Application can be filed at any time - Consequently, in our opinion, application for registration under FCRA can be filed any time after the registration of the organisation. But, the organisation with a considerable past history of activities have a greater chance of convincing the FCRA authorities with regard to the genuiness and the relevance of their purpose.
Field Enquiry
The FCRA department may ask the intelligence bureau for a report. Some authorities from the intelligence bureau may visit the office and the project area of the organisation and inspect the books of account and other records available. On the basis of the reports submitted by the intelligence bureau the FCRA department decides whether to accept or reject the application.
The FCRA department issues a registration certificate and provides a permanent registration number. This registration number is required to be quoted in all future correspondences and filling of returns and forms.
Time Limit For Granting Registration
After making inquiry, the Central Government may register such organisation and grant him a certificate, ordinarily within ninety days from the date of receipt of application.
In case the Central Government does not grant, within the said period of ninety days, a certificate, it shall communicate the reasons there for to the applicant.
Undertaking By The Chief Functionary
An undertaking has to be given by the Chief Functionary, affirming that the information’s are correct and the organisations would undertake to abide by the following:

Text of the undertaking: The text of the undertaking is a follows:
“ The Association named hereinabove affirms that the information furnished above is correct and undertake.

Nature and implication of the undertaking: It is important that the nature and implication of this undertaking is properly understood by the functionaries of the applicant organisation. The following analysis is made in brief:

Refusal to grant registration
Section 12(4)(a) states the grounds or the reasons on the basis of which an application can be rejected. If the Central Government after making the necessary inquiry is of the opinion that the person making an application for registration is fictitious or benami; has been prosecuted or convicted for indulging in activities aimed at conversion through inducement or force, either directly or indirectly, from one religious faith to another; has been prosecuted or convicted for creating communal tension or disharmony in any specified district or any other part of the country; has been found guilty or diversion or mis-utilisation of its funds; is engaged or likely to engage in propagation of sedition or advocate violent methods to achieve its ends; is likely to use the foreign contribution for personal gains or divert it for undesirable purposes; has contravened any of the provisions of this Act; has been prohibited from accepting foreign contribution.
Where the Central Government refuses the grant of certificate, it shall record in its order the reasons therefor and furnish a copy to the applicant. The Central Government may not communicate the reasons for refusal for grant of certificate to the applicant in cases where is no obligation to give any information or documents or records or papers under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Validity Of Certificate
Every certificate of registration granted to a organisation under the Act shall be valid for a period of five years from the date of its issue.
Renewal Of Registration Certificate
Every certificate of registration issued to a organisation shall be liable to be renewed after the expiry of five years from the date of its issue on proper application.
Every organisation shall apply to the Central Government in Form FC-5, six months before the date of expiry of the certificate of registration, for its renewal.
A organisation implementing an ongoing multi-year project shall apply for renewal twelve months before the date of expiry of the certificate of registration.
An application made for renewal of the certificate of registration shall be accompanied by a fee of Rs.500/- (Five Hundred only).
The fee for renewal of the certificate of registration shall be remitted by demand draft or banker’s cheque in favour of the “Pay and Accounts Officer, Ministry of Home Affairs”, payable at New Delhi.
In case no application for renewal of registration is received or such application is not accompanied by the requisite fee, the validity of the certificate of registration of such organisation shall be deemed to have ceased from the date of completion of the period of five years from the date of the grant of registration.
If the validity of the certificate of registration of a organisation has ceased in accordance with the provisions of these rules, a fresh request for the grant of a certificate of registration may be made by the organisation to the Central Government as per the provisions of rule 9.
In case a organisation provides sufficient grounds, in writing, explaining the reasons for not submitting the certificate of registration for renewal within the stipulated time, his application may be accepted for consideration along with the requisite fee, but not later than four months after the expiry of the original certificate of registration.(Declaration of Undertaking format Annexure-1)
Time Limit For Making Application For Renewal Of Registration
Every organisation shall apply to the Central Government in Form FC-5, six months before the date of expiry of the certificate of registration, for its renewal.
An organisation implementing an ongoing multi-year project shall apply for renewal twelve months before the date of expiry of the certificate of registration.
Time Limit For Re-Filing Of Application For Registration
No organisation shall make a second application for registration within a period of six months after submitting an application for the grant of registration for the same project.
Whether registration under Income Tax Act necessary
The FCRA does not specify registration under Income Tax Act as a pre-condition for getting registration under the FCRA. There are instances where FCRA registration has been provided without section 12A registration under the Income Tax Act. But, since FCRA registration is normally provided after satisfying the existence of activities and genuineness of the objectives, which may take sometime and for Income Tax purposes, the organisation has to apply within one year of its creation. Therefore, it is expected of an NGO to have completed its Income Tax registrations prior to applying for registration under FCRA.