Govt cancels FCRA licence of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation

New Delhi, Oct 23: The Centre has revoked the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation's (RGF), a non-government organisation associated with the Gandhi family, licence under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) for alleged violations of the law.

The decision was made after investigations carried out by an inter-ministerial committee set up by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) in 2020, as reported by news agency PTI.

The official informed that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation holders that a notice advising them of the termination of the FCRA licence had been sent after an investigation against it.

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of RGF while other trustees include former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former finance minister P Chidambaram, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Set up in 1991, RGF worked on a number of critical issues including health, science and technology, women and children, disability support, etc., from 1991 till 2009. It also worked in the education sector, according to its website. In 2010, the foundation decided to focus on education going forward, its website says.

The foundation came under the scanner in July 2020, when the MHA set up an inter-ministerial committee headed by an Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer to investigate three Gandhi family foundations - Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust - for possible violations of the money laundering act, Income Tax act and FCRA.