The Income Tax department has revoked the tax exemption status granted to the Centre for Policy Research, the Hindu reported yesterday.

The Delhi-based think tank’s office had been “surveyed” by the IT department in September last year over alleged irregularities in funding. CPR issued a statement on September 9 saying it had “done nothing wrong”, “has all requisite approvals and sanctions”, and was “authorised by the government as a recipient under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act”.

However, in February this year, the central government suspended CPR’s FCRA licence for “non-compliance of FCRA norms”. 

FCRA registration is required to receive foreign funds. Yesterday, a group of ex-bureaucrats wrote an open letter to home minister Amit Shah saying the FCRA registrations of nearly 5,933 NGOs in India had lapsed as of January 1 and this was a “cause of concern”. 

“The cancellation/suspension of the FCRA licences of these organisations and the initiation of punitive action by various law enforcement agencies of the Government of India is an outcome of the highly flawed provisions of the FCRA,” the letter said.

A CPR functionary told the Hindu it had “filed exhaustive replies” with the IT department. Following the suspension of its FCRA licence, the think tank “had to significantly cut down its staff strength by more than half”.

It should be noted that in May, the Delhi High Court stayed income tax proceedings initiated against CPR, saying the matter “requires examination”.

But who funds CPR, which prides itself on its non-partisan nature? And why did the IT survey leave so many people shocked? Read all about it in this report in Newslaundry.

Update on July 7

The Centre for Policy Research issued a statement on July 6 confirming that it had received an intimation from the IT department about the withdrawal of its tax exemption status under Section 12A of the IT Act.

“CPR maintains that it is fully compliant with the law...CPR will be seeking all avenues of recourse that are available,” the statement said. “Despite this severe blow that strikes at the core of our ability to function, CPR remains committed to working towards its foundational objective of conducting research that contributes to high quality scholarship, better policies, and a more robust public discourse about the issues that impact life in India.”

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