Today, Delhi High Court sought a response from the Union Government on the petitions moved by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, associated with the Gandhi family, challenging the cancellation of their Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) license.

The bench headed by Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice on the pleas moved by the two organizations challenging the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs to cancel their FCRA registration for alleged violations of the law.

Both organisations are headed by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and include Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi as members. The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation also has former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former finance minister P. Chidambaram as its members.

The FCRA license was cancelled by the Union Government after investigations were carried out by an inter-ministerial committee formed in 2020 by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

This was done after the BJP alleged that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation had received funds from the embassy of the People’s Republic of China.

The Committee had started investigating the funding of the two organisations in question and the funds received by them with respect to a suspected violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and the Income Tax Act.