Starting on September 1, 2022, any NGO or association registered under the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act, 2010, that is dissatisfied with a decision made by the Central government — whether it be a decision to suspend or cancel registration or to take any other action under the FCRA and its rules, will be required to submit their request for a revision of the decision in an electronic format.

As there is no predetermined electronic format, the revision application can simply be a scanned copy of the paper application. It must be submitted to the Union Home Secretary within a year of the date the offending NGO received notice of the order in question, or, if that date comes first, the date on which it learned of it.

The justification for the modification of the order must be submitted online, together with any necessary supporting papers, and there is a Rs. 3000 cost that must be paid via the payment portal designated by the Central government. According to the previous regulations, this charge was Rs 1,000 and may be paid with a banker’s check or demand draught.

While speaking to TOI a Home ministry official stated that “The revision plea, which was earlier required to be filed on a plain paper and sent to the Union Home Secretary, must now only be filed electronically in the interest of transparency. Applications in physical mode will no longer be accepted from September 1, 2022.”

To improve transparency and eliminate any opportunity for corruption or harassment of NGOs due to human interaction or staff indiscretion, the home ministry has moved the majority of its dealings and transactions with NGOs and associations covered by the FCRA online during the past few years.

Any organisation may submit a scanned copy of their application on the FCRA website (https://fcraonline.nic.in/) under the main headline “Services under FCRA,” subheading “Revision Application contra Section 32, FCRA 2010.”

No physical copy of the revised application or any other relevant documents must be sent to MHA.

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