Kolkata: Following the controversy over freezing the bank accounts of Mother Teresa's charity organization by the central government, Missionaries of Charity on Monday clarified that no such freeze was ordered by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
"We would like to clarify that the FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity has been neither suspended nor cancelled. Further, there is no freeze ordered by the Ministry of Home Affairs on any of our bank accounts. We have been informed that our FCRA renewal application has not been approved. Therefore as a measure to ensure there is no lapse, we have asked our centres not to operate any of the FC accounts until the matter is resolved," reads the Missionaries of Charity statement.
In a statement, the MHA said that the renewal application under the FCRA for the renewal of FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity was refused on December 25, 2021, for not meeting the eligibility conditions under FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011.
No request/revision application has been received from Missionaries of Charity for review of this refusal of renewal, the ministry said.
The MHA said that considering the MoC's renewal application, some adverse inputs were noticed. In consideration of these inputs on record, the renewal application of MoC was not approved, it added.
"The FCRA registration of MoC was valid up to December 31, 2021. MHA did not freeze any accounts of MoC. State Bank of India has informed that MoC itself sent a request to SBI to freeze its accounts," the MHA said.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister criticised the Centre over the Missionaries of Charity issue. Spreading blatant lies on social media, she had claimed that the centre froze all bank accounts of the Missionaries of Charity.
Taking to Twitter, Mamata Banerjee said, "Shocked to hear that on Christmas, Union Ministry FROZE ALL BANK ACCOUNTS of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in India! Their 22,000 patients and employees have been left without food and medicines. While the law is paramount, humanitarian efforts must not be compromised." (With inputs from ANI)
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