'Jamia can receive and spend foreign funds'

The home ministry has clarified that Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) is exempt from all provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and there is no bar on the university receiving or spending foreign contributions, a university statement said Friday.

Following reports in some sections of the media in August that the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) Registration of Jamia Millia Islamia along with many other organisations and NGOs had been cancelled, the university gave a report of its returns to the government, the statement said.

"JMI represented to the MHA that the university had submitted the returns diligently included and gave proof for the same," the statement said.

"As per the Government of India Gazette Notification dated July 1, 2011, all statutory Bodies having their accounts audited through Comptroller & Auditor General of India are exempt from all provisions of the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA)," the statement added.

The ministry scrapped the FCRA registration for 4,139 top educational institutions, including many premier institutes, disallowing them from accepting foreign donations.

The ministry said the institutions had "failed to submit satisfactory supporting documents" of the fund usage.

Jamia Millia Islamia, an institution originally established at Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh) in 1920, became a central university by an act of parliament in 1988.