Stating that the Bhagavad Gita is “not a religious book, rather a moral science”, the Madras High Court has set aside the Union government’s decision to deny registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act to a trust, reported Live Law on Monday.

Registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act is mandatory for a non-profit organisation to receive foreign funds.

Justice GR Swaminathan was hearing a petition filed by a trust named Arsha Vidya Parampara, which was set up in 2017 and conducts online classes as well as residential courses to teach Hindu religious texts, yoga and Sanskrit.

The trust had applied for an FCRA license in 2021, but the request remained pending for years, reported Bar and Bench. In 2024 and 2025, the Union home ministry sought clarifications on it.

In January, Arsha Vidya Parampara filed a fresh application, which was rejected in September. The main reason cited by the home ministry was that the trust “appears to be religious”.

The trust moved the High Court challenging this decision.

In his order delivered on December 19, Swaminathan held that the “Bhagavad Gita cannot be confined within a given religion”, reported Live Law.

“It is a part of Bharatiya civilisation,” he was quoted as saying.

The court also said that the Centre’s reasoning that the trust is a religious organisation falls short of the requirements under FCRA Section 11, which pertains to the registration of organisations under the Act.

To deny FCRA registration to such organisations, the government is required to provide a “definite” and well-reasoned explanation, said the court, according to Bar and Bench.

Swaminathan held that in the present case, the authorities had concluded that the trust’s activities “appeared to be religious”, and not definitely religious.

“The authority could have rejected the application by forming a definite conclusion which should of course be based on materials,” he was quoted as saying by Live Law. “It cannot be a tentative one.”

The Centre had told the court that another reason for rejecting the trust’s application was that it had allegedly received foreign funds before obtaining the FCRA registration.

The trust had acknowledged this and chose to “compound” the offence under section 41 of the Act, which allows certain violations to be settled by paying a fee, reported Bar and Bench.

The court held that, as the offence was compounded, it could not be used to reject the application.

Swaminathan directed the Centre to issue a fresh notice in the application and pass its order within three months.

Swaminathan was at the centre of controversy earlier this month, when Opposition MPs submitted an impeachment notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against him. The legislators contended that the judge’s recent orders and actions have been viewed as “disruptive to social harmony and detrimental to integrity of the judiciary”.

This had come against the backdrop of Swaminathan’s order directing the authorities of the Subramaniya Swamy Temple at Thirupparankundram in Madurai to ensure that the Karthigai Deepam was lit at the deepathoon, a stone pillar, near a dargah on the top of a hill.

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