MHA pulls up rogue officer

The Union home ministry’s foreigners division has cracked the whip on an officer who was allegedly trying to create panic among NGOs receiving large sums of foreign aid in the country by issuing them notices under the FCRA and organising meetings with them later.

An under-secretary working in the high-profile foreigners division of MHA has been shunted out, top sources told this newspaper.

The officer, who has been transferred out of the foreigners division for now, remains under the scanner of the intelligence agencies.

Whether the officer was over-stepping his brief for pecuniary gain is yet to be established, but he has been transferred out immediately, the sources said.

“The officer was making a list of NGOs receiving large sums of foreign contribution and then issuing them notices to scare them. He then organised meetings with them without the knowledge of senior officers,” a top government official said.

The under secretary, however also faces an imminent inquiry if a formal complaint is registered against him by any of the NGOs he was interacting with or if the Central agencies gather evidence to prove his offence, officials said.

Sources disclosed that soon after the officer came under the scanner, a decision was taken at the highest level to remove him from his present assignment in the foreigners division.

The Union home ministry’s crackdown has come at a time when the government is putting a tight leash around the NGOs receiving foreign contributions in the country and are using such foreign aid to fuel unrest and organise protests against the government.

The high-profile foreigners division of MHA had recently issued notices notices to NGOs like Greenpeace, Teesta Setelvad and Indira Jaisingh’s Lawyers Collective among others.

The foreigners division is a critical department of the home ministry where crucial works related to foreign-aided NGOs, visas, among others, is dealt with.

In 2012, a section officer in the foreigners division of the MHA was arrested by the CBI following complaints that he was demanding and taking bribe for extension of visa.