FCRA Not Renewed & Funds in Utilization Account

Good morning. We are a small NGO from Bangalore working in health sector. We like to hear your response on 2 points.

  1. We were denied renewal of FCRA on non compliance clause.
    We received our approval end of March 2019 and we dint receive any FCRA funds in 2019. Our auditor missed filing the FCRA audit that year and based on that we were denied the renewal.
    After that as penalty we paid the fine and requested for renewal but were informed that we need to submit a new application for FCRA registration. Is this correct?
  2. We have some funds moved to Utilization account in last 3/4 years and we heard that those funds can’t be utilized when we don’t have active FCRA approval. Is this correct? What will happen to those funds which are sitting in the bank?

Ours is a very small NGO and those funds are very necessary to run the operations. Please advice.

Thanks for your query

  1. You now need to file Form FC 3A as fresh application for registration after cessation of FCRA registration.
  2. On cessation of your registration certificate, you cannot receive or utilise FC funds. the funds vest with the prescribed authority until a fresh registration is granted.

Thanks

CS Sharad Bhargava