Open FCRA account of NGOs within 10 days of receiving Centre approval: Delhi High Court to SBI [READ ORDER]

The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the State Bank of India to ensure that the applications by non-government organisations for opening accounts under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) for accepting foreign donations, are processed at the earliest and that the relevant bank accounts are made operational within ten days of receiving approval from Central government. .The order was passed by single-judge Bench of Justice Rekha Palli in a batch of petitions preferred several NGOs."The respondent no. 2 (SBI) shall ensure that all the applications of the petitioners herein, as well as those of a like nature submitted by other similarly situated applicants, shall be processed at the earliest and the relevant bank accounts sought to be set up for receiving foreign contributions shall be made operational within ten days of receipt of the FC6 certificate from the concerned applicant," the order directed. .The Court also granted liberty to NGOs who were before it to move an application for revival of the petitions in case the respondents fail to adhere to the schedule indicated above. .The issues in the petitions related to the opening of FCRA account in terms of the amendment to Section 17 of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 which came into effect from September, 2020..The NGOs stated that they were facing tremendous difficulty both in the opening the FCRA account, and also in the subsequent approval which is to be obtained from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). .One of the NGOs, Mother's Touch Charity Foundation (petitioner), even challenged the restriction imposed by the Central government on receiving foreign contribution in existing FCRA Accounts from April 1, 2021, for six months or until the operationalization of the FCRA Account in the SBI (Main Branch) New Delhi. .The petitioner submitted that in spite of the application for bank account in SBI, New Delhi being made in March 2021 itself, the same had not been opened leading to enormous delays. .The Court was also told that the accounts were not being made operational in spite of timely submission of FC-6 certificates granting Centre's approval. .The Court was informed that without the approval of the MHA, no foreign contributions could be received by NGOs such as the Petitioner. .Senior Advocates Dayan Krishnan with Advocates Srishti Agnihotri, Abhishek Jebaraj, Chandratanay Chaube appeared for the petitioner NGOs. .Standing Counsels Nidhi Raman,Manish Mohan, with Advocates Apoorv Kurup, Nidhi Mittal, Akshata Singh, Zubin Singh, Manisha Saroha appeared for UOI. .Advocates Rajiv Kapur, Akshit Kapur appeared for the SBI. .[Read Order]