New Delhi, May 18 The Delhi High Court on Thursday sent a notice to the central government regarding petitions filed by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust.
These petitions challenge the government's cancellation of their registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
Sonia Gandhi, a prominent Congress leader, heads both of these non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The RGF counts former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Minister P. Chidambaram, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi among its trustees.
Justice Jyoti Singh issued a notice while expressing dissatisfaction with the fact that it took eight hearings to issue the notice, as the government had requested adjournments on at least four occasions.
Despite the government counsel's request for a pass over, Justice Singh stated that she would take notice of the matter.
The bench commented: "This is a Regular First Appeal (RFA). It cannot be dismissed immediately. Eight dates have already passed, so let's be a little practical... Eight dates just for this."
The court then scheduled hearing next on August 23.
The case initially came before the court in January 2023, but it was adjourned a few times due to the unavailability of the bench.
When the case was finally taken up for hearing on February 3, the government counsel sought an adjournment, stating that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta would be appearing in the matter.
The RGF's FCRA registration was cancelled in October 2022 by the Union Home Ministry for allegedly violating the foreign funding law.
As per MHA, the FCRA licence of the foundation has been cancelled due to violation of foreign funding rules. The MHA had also constituted a committee in 2020 to probe this. This decision has been taken on the basis of the report by the same inquiry committee.
According to sources, the RGF came under the scanner in July, 2020. The MHA then constituted an inter-ministerial committee headed by an Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer to investigate NGOs, including the RGF, linked to the Gandhi family. The foundation was accused of tampering with income tax returns, including suspected FCRA violations.
The RGF was established in 1991. For many years, this foundation worked on important issues regarding health, science and technology, women, children and education, etc.
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