New Delhi: The Karnataka high court annulled the home ministry's order to cancel the registration of Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS) under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).

The order, passed on June 25, was delivered by a bench consisting of Justice M. Nagaprasanna.

CWS challenged the FCRA license cancellation on grounds that it lacked justification and that a personal hearing, mandated under Section 14(2) of the FCRA, was not granted. The home ministry argued that personal hearings were not required before cancelling a registration, news agency PTI reported.

The research and conservation institute, founded by K. Ullas Karanth, had applied for a change of bank account in 2021 after which it received foreign contributions. Subsequently, the Union government issued a six-month suspension of the trust’s registration and a questionnaire, which CWS’s counsel said it had not received, the Indian Express reported.

After their registration’s suspension on March 5, 2021, CWS received a show-cause notice in December that year. The trust’s FCRA license was cancelled on September 4, 2023.

"The words depicted in the Act ‘reasonable opportunity of being heard’ cannot be restricted to issuance of a show cause notice but a personal hearing in the peculiar facts of the case owing to the peculiarity of sub-section (3) of Section 14 of the Act must have been afforded to the petitioner," Justice Nagaprasanna said.

The court observed that the lack of personal hearing rendered the order unsustainable. 

“Non-affording of personal hearing to the petitioner has rendered the order unsustainable and the unsustainability of it, would lead to its obliteration. Let there be no confusion that there can always be a fusion between hearing and personal hearing.” the judge said.

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