New Delhi: Think tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR) on Wednesday said that the Union Home Ministry had suspended their registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) for a period of 180 days, despite the organisation being in compliance with the laws.
“In September 2022, the IT Department conducted an Income Tax survey at the CPR premises. As part of the survey follow-up process, CPR received several notices from the department. Following due process, detailed and exhaustive responses have been submitted to the department.
“CPR has and continues to cooperate fully with the authorities. We are in complete compliance with the law and are routinely scrutinised and audited by government authorities, including the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. We have annual statutory audits, and all our annual audited balance sheets are in the public domain. There is no question of having undertaken any activity that is beyond our objects of association and compliance mandated by law,” the CPR, which is headed by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s daughter Yamini Aiyar, said.
The think tank, which said that its work and institutional purpose is to advance constitutional goals and protect constitutional guarantees, noted that in light of the current MHA order, they will “explore all avenues of recourse available to us”.
“We are absolutely confident that the matter will be resolved speedily, in fairness and in the spirit of our constitutional values,” it said.
In September last year, the Income Tax Department conducted search operations for three days at the office of CPR and two other NGOs – Oxfam India, and Bengaluru-based non-profit Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation (IPSMF) – in connection with alleged tax evasion.
All the firms had said they didn’t do anything unlawful and the CPR maintained it had fully cooperated in the raid.
IT Department sources claimed that tax evasions of crore of rupees in the guise of donation to political parties were detected by them. The IT team had learnt from a report of Election Commission that a few political parties were given donations through a data entry operator by flouting rules.
–IANS