Organisations engaged in religious conversion shall be denied FCRA registration: Madras HC

A Division Bench of the Madras High Court (Madurai) has said religious organisations, whose activities would not affect the nation’s secular fabric and social amity, are entitled to obtain Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration. But organisations engaged in converting people of one religious faith to another shall be denied FCRA registration.

The court was hearing the Civil Miscellaneous Appeal filed by Kanzeon Public Charitable Trust in Kodaikanal in Dindigul district. The appellant, a trust founded in 2021 and registered under Section 12AB and 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961, sought certificate of registration under the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. The appellant’s application was rejected. Challenging the same, the appeal was filed.

The appellant submitted the trust had established a Zen Meditation Centre at Kodaikanal and its activities cannot be labelled as religious. On its part, the Centre submitted the policy of the government is to check the inflow of foreign funds that may be deployed for carrying out conversion and other activities which would harm the secular fabric of the country. In the instant case, the author of the trust was an ordained Christian priest addressed as Rev. Fr. Ama Samy SJ.

A Division Bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and M.D. Sumathi said, “One cannot forget the fact that Christianity is a messianic religion. Their theological and religious mission is to bring everyone within the fold of Jesus Christ. There is a saying ‘a leopard will not change its spots’. Unlike Hinduism which is inclusive, the Abrahamic religions are inherently exclusive. The devout Jews, Christians and Muslims believe that theirs is the one true and complete revelation because that is what their Holy books say of themselves”.

Rule 9 of FCR Rules, 2011, states the application must be in Form FC-3A. Form FC-3A requires the applicant to disclose the nature of the organisation. “The appellant trust claims to subscribe to Zen Buddhist philosophy. On the own showing of the appellant, they are a religious organisation. The authority rightly states that Zen Buddhism is a variant of Mahayana Buddhist School. Every Buddhist school will come under the broad umbrella of Buddhism. Zen can be no exception. Since the appellant’s application did not correctly identify its nature as religious, the application was rightly negatived,” the court said.

The judges said te appellant need not have been so coy. Section 12 of the FCRA bars only an unregistered religious organisation from accepting foreign contributions. An organisation having a definite religious programme is entitled to apply for a certificate of registration from the central government under Sections 11 and 12 of the Act. “But one has to make a clean breast of everything. One cannot keep any card up one’s sleeve. This is no game of hide and seek”, they added.

“It is necessary to make a clear distinction between a religious organisation and a cultural or educational entity. An organisation primarily engaged in the systematic teaching of Vedanta, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, Yoga and allied Indian Knowledge Systems through structured classes, residential courses, publications, research and preservation of manuscripts cannot be classified as religious institutions. Indian Knowledge Systems would fall under the category of education or culture”, the bench said.

Zen philosophy is of Chinese origin. Organisations like the appellant trust cannot therefore claim any right to be registered under FCRA. “We are a pluralist nation. Unlike the USA, we are not a melting pot but a salad bowl, a beautiful metaphor credited to Justice Ruma Pal. This status quo would be upset, if one religious group gains ascendancy”, the court said.

If foreign funds are freely allowed inside to facilitate conversion activities, the sovereignty of the nation would be imperilled. “We hasten to clarify that we do not accuse the appellant of having any such agenda. Section 12(4)(a)(ii) of the Act specifically refers to conversion from one religious faith to another. This provision applies to all religious organisations. A fundamentalist Hindu Organisation engaged in Ghar Wapsi cannot be registered under FCRA. The statutory regime which was put in place during UPA rule (2010) is intended to subserve secular objects”, the bench said.

When the statute envisages a frank disclosure of all the details, any misrepresentation would entail rejection of the application itself. Though the applicant is engaged in religious programmes, they wrongly projected themselves as non-religious. “That is why, the respondent authority had to say ‘Illa Samy’ (No Sir) to Rev. Fr. Ama Samy (which name literally translates as ‘Yes’), the court said.

It said an application seeking FCRA registration should correctly disclose the nature of the applicant. Failure to do so will result in rejection of the application. Even if all the details are in order, the authority is still at liberty to negative the request. This is because there is no right as such to receive foreign contributions. It can at best be a privilege.

The authority must however correctly classify the applicants. Persons and organisations engaged in upholding the civilisational heritage of India have to be classified as educational or cultural. If the programmes of the applicant pertain to worship and rituals, they will fall under the religious category, the court said and dismissed the appeal.