Institutions that seek constitutional protection must also submit to public accountability. Analyse in the context of minority educational and charitable institutions.

Article 30 gives minorities the right to establish and administer educational institutions. Articles 25–26 protect religious and charitable activity. These rights shield institutions from arbitrary interference, but they do not exempt them from the law. The FCRA (Amendment) Bill, 2026 tests where legitimate accountability ends and state control begins.

Why protection invites accountability

• Trusteeship: These rights are held for a community and its beneficiaries. In TMA Pai (2002), the Supreme Court held that the right to administer does not include a right to maladminister.
• Scale of funds: Between 2019 and 2022, 13,520 organisations received ₹55,741 crore of foreign contribution [1]. Tracing such sums is a legitimate state interest.
• Existing safeguards: The 2020 amendment requires foreign contribution to be received only in an SBI New Delhi "FCRA account". It also caps administrative spending at 20% and bans onward transfer [2].
• Ethical reciprocity: An institution that claims rights-based protection strengthens its case by voluntarily publishing audited accounts and asset registers.

Where accountability turns into control

• Ownership, not disclosure: A new Designated Authority may take over and sell foreign-funded assets of a body whose certificate has "ceased" [1].
• Paperwork lapse as the trigger: Non-renewal alone is enough. It carries no hearing and no appeal, although cancellation can be appealed [1].
• Disproportion: A hospital ward built with mixed funds is taken over in full [1]. The ₹10 lakh spending test for renewal under the 2026 Rules may exclude small, low-cost bodies [1].
• Exposure: There are 22,498 cancelled and 15,212 deemed-expired certificates against 14,449 active ones [1]. If the Bill applies to past cases, schools and hospitals serving the poor could be affected.
• Some easing: The maximum jail term falls from five years to one, and investigations now need prior Central approval [1].

Reconciling the two

• Give non-renewal the same hearing and High Court appeal as cancellation.
• Allow a "clean exit": a body that stops taking foreign funds files a final audited statement and keeps its assets, but cannot sell them or use them for other purposes.
• Split mixed assets by value. Write the vesting deadline into the Act itself rather than leaving it to Rules.
• Base renewal on whether the body is doing its stated work, not on how much it spends.

Constitutional protection and public accountability work together. Autonomy protects minority institutions' character, and disclosure protects public trust in them. The Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the Bill [3] should apply the proportionality test: choose the least restrictive way to make institutions transparent, not take their property. Doing so would serve SDG 16 (accountable institutions) while respecting Article 30's promise.