Madras HC: Hinduism inclusive, Abrahamic faiths exclusive; upholds FCRA denial to Zen trust

The Madras High Court has observed that Hinduism is inclusive while the Abrahamic religions are inherently exclusive, in a judgment upholding the Centre’s refusal to grant FCRA registration to a Kodaikanal-based charitable trust.

The Kanzeon Public Charitable Trust, which runs a Montessori school and a Zen meditation centre in Kodaikanal, had challenged an order of the Deputy Director (FCRA) in the Union Home Ministry rejecting its application for registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. A division bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and M.D. Sumathi dismissed the appeal, holding that the trust had failed to correctly disclose its religious character.

The court noted that the person behind the trust was an ordained Christian priest and that the meditation centre prominently displayed a Christian cross alongside a statue of the Buddha. While the trust claimed its activities were not religious and that Zen belonged to India’s Dhyana tradition, the bench said Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism and therefore falls within the broader category of Buddhism.

The bench said religious bodies are not barred from seeking FCRA registration, but they must be upfront about their nature. “The appellant need not have been so coy… This is no game of hide and seek,” the judges said, adding that the law only stops an unregistered religious organisation from accepting foreign money.

Under the FCRA, organisations must register with the Home Ministry to receive donations from abroad, and the application form requires them to state whether they are religious, cultural, educational, social or economic bodies and, if religious, specify the faith. The court held that the trust ought to have made a “clean breast of everything” by correctly stating its nature.

Describing India as a pluralist “salad bowl” rather than a melting pot, the bench said the country’s balance would be upset if any one religious group gained ascendancy. It warned that if foreign funds were freely allowed to facilitate conversion, the nation’s sovereignty would be imperilled, and noted that radical Christian institutions were notorious for such activities, referring to recent friction between Christians and Muslims in Kerala.

The court clarified that the FCRA provision barring registration of organisations prosecuted or convicted for conversion through inducement or force applies to all religions alike. “A fundamentalist Hindu organisation engaged in Ghar Wapsi cannot be registered under FCRA,” the bench said.

At the same time, the judges held that not everybody dealing with Indian philosophy is religious. Organisations engaged in structured teaching of Vedanta, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, Yoga and allied Indian knowledge systems fall under education or culture, they said, noting that the National Education Policy, 2020 recognises these as legitimate fields of study.

Since nobody has a right to receive foreign aid, the court said the FCRA authority must be given considerable leeway in granting or refusing registration, though courts can still intervene if the discretion is exercised perversely or relevant material is ignored. In this context, the bench approved the reasoning in the Arsha Vidya Parampara Trust case, in which Justice Swaminathan had in December 2025 set aside the rejection of FCRA registration to a trust that teaches Vedanta, Sanskrit and Yoga and sent the matter back for fresh consideration.