NGOs Misusing funds

According to the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (“NCPCR”), NGOs with FCRA registration accept foreign contributions and distribute them to other NGOs that do not have FCRA registration. 

The Apex Child Rights Body filed an affidavit in the writ petition Vinay Vinayak Joshi v. Union of India, which challenged the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India Notification dated May 18, 2021, which extends the deadline for compliance with the specific provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2020, to document NCPCR’s efforts to prevent the misappropriation of foreign funds by various non-governmental organisations.  

  

Swarupama Chaturvedi, an advocate, filed the case. According to NCPCR, there are several NGOs where legislative provisions have profane. The Supreme Court has deferred its decision in a lawsuit contesting the FCRA modifications.

To verify their claim that NCPCR is constantly inspecting Child Care Institutions, etc., and taking different actions against NGOs who are in breach of legal rules, NCPCR submitted an affidavit.  

 

The NCPCR highlighted the names of some NGOs, including social activist Harsh Mander’s Centre for Equity Studies, where monies were allegedly transferred or acquired from questionable sources in an affidavit presented before the Court on November 6.  

  

The National Commission to protect the Child Rights (NCPCR) has backed the Centre’s worries about non-governmental organisations (NGOs) misusing foreign donations, which pushed Parliament to modify the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).

These revisions are challenging in a series of petitions submitted before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, with orders reserved.  

  

The NCPCR stated about Harsh Mander’s NGO Centre for Equity Studies, which the Enforcement Directorate investigates.

The Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing for allegedly appropriating funds and laundering money, “The NCPCR has sent letters dated November 30, 2020, and June 24, 2021, to the MHA to look into the foreign funds being received by Centre for Equity Studies and ‘ARUN,’ and further utilisation of the same fund.”  

  

Even though the Centre for Equity Studies has FCRA registration and is eligible to receive foreign funding, the Commission discovered that NGO gave funds to another NGO, which does not have FCRA registration but runs CCIs in various cities throughout the country.

After inspecting them, the Commission determined these children’s homes to violate several sections of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act.  

  

A form of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari, and CT Ravikumar ended hearing arguments in three petitions brought by Noel Harper and the NGO Jeevan Jyothi Charitable Trust, as well as a separate case filed by Vinay Vinayak Joshi, who supports the revisions.  

   

The modifications make it essential for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to register to receive foreign donations and to disclose the aim of the funding (social, religious, cultural, economic, and so on).  

   

The NGOs must also create an account with the State Bank of India, which can only collect foreign monies and then transfer them to the local banks where the NGOs have accounts.

Other notable changes include a restriction on transferring funds from a registered NGO to an unregistered NGO, a prohibition on diverting funds for purposes other than those declared upon registration, and a cap on spending funds for administrative expenditures.  

   

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said that NGOs with nothing to conceal could not object to these revisions. He gave examples of NGOs receiving cash from dubious sources and using them to sponsor subversive operations.  

 

The NCPCR affidavit noted one such instance. An investigation of five children’s homes in Assam and one in Manipur revealed how he maintained his children in these institutions without being shown before Child Welfare Committees and without being registered as required under the Juvenile Justice Act 2015. 

Markaz-ul-Maarif operated these residences, and one of them in Dhubri was getting cash from a suspect   

   

Markaz-ul-Maarif administered these residences, and one of them in Dhubri has been receiving cash from a dubious Turkish group called IHH since 2016 for a project dubbed ‘Akika.’  

  

Following a thorough investigation, the Commission discovered that Turkish law enforcement agents had probed IHH for their purported contacts with overseas groups, which alludes to questionable activity by this NGO.

“There is a concern, based on several papers acquired by NCPCR during the inspection, that the CCI may disclose details of children with the foreign organisation,” the Commission noted in its affidavit.