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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | NGOs under fire over 'hidden' $3.2bn: Supreme Court blasts social groups as just 10 per cent file financial records -Harish V Nair

NGOs under fire over 'hidden' $3.2bn: Supreme Court blasts social groups as just 10 per cent file financial records -Harish V Nair

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published Published on Jan 7, 2015   modified Modified on Jan 7, 2015
-DailyMail.co.uk

Your friendly neighbourhood NGO worker may have been crying themselves hoarse for years over social ills, but there is a high chance that the organisation he or she represents lacks financial transparency.

Nearly 25 lakh NGOs across the country, most of whom receive funds worth crores of rupees from the government and abroad, came under the Supreme Court's scrutiny on Monday after the CBI submitted that only 10 per cent of them have filed annual income and expenditure statements.

Raising the issue of transparency regarding their functioning, the CBI report filed in the court said that out of 22,39,971 NGOs in 20 states (information from nine states is awaited), only 2,23,428 have filed their balance sheet, a paltry ten per cent.

Between 2002 and 2009 the Union and state governments released Rs 6654 crore to various NGOs, averaging almost Rs 950 crore per year, according to information received through RTI queries by Asian Centre for Human Rights.

And for the financial year 2010-13, available data show that about 22,000 NGOs received over $3.2 billion from abroad, of which $650 million came from the US.

According to details received from six union territories (Delhi awaited), it was found that only 50 out of 5,684 NGOs, which translates into one percent, filed proper statements before the authority which registered them.

"Complete all compilations fast. Then you can begin arguments. Let us see why these NGOs cannot be asked to maintain complete record and submit them to the authority which registered them. This is important for transparency," a bench headed by chief justice H L Dattu told Additional Solicitor General Paramjit Singh Patwalia who represented the CBI.

Significantly, the CBI suggested that only an NGO which has filed statements for three preceding years should be given a grant by the government.

Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of NGOs at 5, 48,148 and out of them only 1,19,000 have filed their balance sheets. Out of West Bengal's 2, 34,000 NGOs, only 17,089 file statements.

From the report sent by the governments of various states and Union Territories, the CBI shockingly found that none of the NGOs in Rajasthan (which has a total of 1,36,978) Assam (97,437), Himachal Pradesh (52,394), Punjab (84,752), Kerala (3,69,137), Meghalaya (15,032) , Nagaland (4,491), Tripura (6,679) Manipur (1,640), Goa (553), and Union Territories Chandigarh (3,981), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (611) and Laksadweep (612) file annual income expenditure statement before the authority which registered them.

The court had ordered a CBI probe into the functioning of all NGOs in the country, expanding the scope of a PIL filed last year by Supreme Court lawyer M L Sharma, who had originally only sought investigation into misuse of funds by Anna Hazare's NGO Hind Swaraj Trust.

The court on September 2, 2013 asked the CBI to get information from all states and Union Territories regarding the number of NGOs in the country and whether they are filing annual income and expenditure statement before the authority which registered them.

The CBI has sought three more months from the court to compile the full facts before commencing arguments. It said no information has been received from Tamil Nadu and Telengana despite repeated reminders.

Full information is also awaited from Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Delhi.

Earlier, the CBI had expressed difficulty in probing and collecting information on NGOs and had pleaded that the task be handed over to states, but the plea was summarily rejected by the court which directed the agency to comply with its order.

"If the CBI can probe murder cases then why not probe against NGOs? You can do so many things, you do it also," the bench had said.



DailyMail.co.uk, 6 January, 2015, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2897823/NGOs-fire-hidden-3-2bn-Supreme-Court-blasts-social-groups-just-10-cent-file-financial-records.html


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