The Home Ministry has served a notice suspending the NGO ‘Lawyers Collective’ for six months for allegedly violating the Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA). The NGO’s head renowned lawyer Indira Jaising has called the notice “nothing but an attempt to intimidate” and an attempt to malign the NGO’s reputation.
The Modi government has accused the NGO of using foreign funding for holding “rallies and dharnas” serving political interests. In the five-page notice, the ministry suspended the NGO’s license and asked it to submit a reply within 30 days.
The order alleges that the NGO was a recipient of foreign funding between 2006-2007 and 2013-2014. The notice suggests that there are discrepancies in the annual returns filed by the organization when Jaising, who has also held the position of Additional Solicitor-General in the UPA government, was functioning as Secretary.
According to an NDTV report, the notice added that it was "really surprising how a senior law officer such as an ASG can simultaneously and for such a long period be on the rolls of a private entity, being paid (out of foreign contribution) for undisclosed purposes in gross violation of rules."
However, LC has denied these allegations and says that it has not even received the order. The NGO has alleged that the move aims to destroy LC’s credibility by leaking the notice to the media even before serving it to them.
Jaising has called the move “vindictive”, and told NDTV that they were being targeted for questioning government policies. The organization said on Wednesday that it would challenge the notice and termed it as a "blatant attempt of the government to victimize the organization and its office bearers."