Union Ministry Denies Freezing Bank Accounts of Missionaries of Charity

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has refuted allegations by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that the BJP-led Central government had frozen all bank accounts of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity (MoC). Mamata Banerjee had tweeted on Christmas that the Union Ministry had "frozen all bank accounts" of MoC, leaving 22,000 patients and employees without food and medicines. However, the MHA stated that MoC itself had requested the State Bank of India (SBI) to freeze its accounts due to a failure to meet eligibility conditions under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011.

Key Takeaways:

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has denied allegations of freezing bank accounts of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity (MoC).
MoC itself requested the State Bank of India (SBI) to freeze its accounts due to failure to meet eligibility conditions under FCRA 2010 and FCRR 2011.
Mamata Banerjee accused the Centre of freezing all bank accounts of MoC on Christmas, leaving 22,000 patients and employees without essentials.
The MHA stated that the renewal application of MoC under FCRA was refused on 25 December 2021 for not meeting the eligibility conditions.
The FCRA registration of MoC was valid up to 31 December 2021, along with other FCRA Associations whose renewal applications were pending renewal.
Leaders of non-BJP political parties slammed the Centre over the issue, but no official reaction has been received from MoC.

Statistics:

22,000 patients and employees of MoC were left without food and medicines due to alleged bank account freezing.
25 December 2021 - Date when MoC's FCRA renewal application was refused.
31 December 2021 - Date when the FCRA registration of MoC was valid.
2010 - Year when FCRA 2010 was enacted.
2011 - Year when Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) were introduced.

Sources:

HT Digital Content Services
India Blooms