New Delhi, Sept. 20 -- The Supreme Court on Friday cautioned the Union government against harassing non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and pulled up the Centre for refusing to renew the registration of two such organisations under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA) on what it termed as "technical grounds".

A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the Centre's special leave petition against a June judgment of the Madras High Court, which had quashed communications issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) refusing renewal of registration to two sister NGOs. The high court had directed the authorities to complete the renewal process within four weeks, holding that the denial was based only on mi...