Civil rights activist and Teesta Setalvad's husband Javed Anand on Friday said he is 'not surprised' with the cancellation FCRA license for their NGO Sabrang Trust and added that they would now seek legal advice to challenge the same.
"We are not surprised by this cancellation order. We have not received an official letter, but it is up on their official website. We are not at all surprised, the only surprising thing is that why have taken such a long time. And also the timing of it whether it has anything to do with the judgement of Gulberg society massacre case trial a few days ago," Anand told ANI here.
"We still deny that there is any violation of FCRA act or rules by the trust as alleged. We will seek legal advice and see how we can challenge this cancellation," he added.
Anand said the allegation of money transfer is completely baseless.
"They have alleged that we have used 12 lakhs rupees through the credit card for personal uses, it is a complete lie and we totally deny it," he added.
Anand said the NGO repeatedly wrote letters to their showcause notice challenging the allegations made.
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He further said that they had requested for a personal hearing to argue this case in detail.
"We have requested an opportunity for a personal hearing so that we can explain and argue on our case in further detail, but what we got is show of a hearing on April 11, 2016, which is more than five months after we have written this letter and the hearing didn't even last for 10 minutes. We were told that we will get our decision in two to three days time," Anand said.
The Centre on Thursday cancelled the permanent registration of Sabrang Trust, run by Teesta Setalvad and her husband Anand, with immediate effect.
The termination of the licence will block all foreign funding in Teesta's NGO, which was suspended last year for six months with effect from September10, 2015, for violating Foreign Currency (Regulation) Act.
Issuing a statement, Sabrang Trust said, "Trustees regret to note that today's order of the Home Ministry is simply a mechanical reiteration of the very same allegation made earlier, in total disregard to the detailed and reasoned explanations and arguments put forward by the trust."
"Sabrang will actively explore all legal options to challenge the Home Ministry's order cancelling FCRA registration," the statement added.