NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over disbursal of public funds to over 32 lakh non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and voluntary organisations every year, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to enact a law to regulate them and said mere guidelines won’t work.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar said the government should consider giving statutory status to the entire process on regulating NGOs and voluntary organisations.
“The proposed guidelines by the Centre may not meet the enormity of the situation — non-accountability of funds to NGOs for decades. It is taxpayers’ money for which the NGOs and voluntary organisations must be held accountable,” the Bench said. The Bench asked the Centre to apprise it of the stand within eight weeks.
The Bench also mooted having in place statutory provisions envisaging civil and criminal action.
The Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) informed the court that it has recommended registration of 159 FIRs against NGOs for alleged misappropriation or misuse of funds disbursed to them.
CAPART, which works under the Ministry of Rural Development and disburses funds to voluntary organisations working in rural areas, also said initially it had blacklisted 718 NGOs for not following due process and not submitting their accounting details. However, the names of 15 NGOs were removed after they adhered to the norms.
The Centre informed the Bench that the guidelines have been sent to all 76 ministries and departments for their comments and suggestions.
The court referred to the details provided by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, assisting the court as an amicus curiae, and had said that a phenomenal amount of `950 crore every year was being given by the Centre and State governments to NGOs.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by lawyer M L Sharma and had said the Centre and its departments were doling out crores of rupees but were not aware of the repercussions of non-auditing.
In September 2015, CBI had informed the court that under 10 per cent of over 30 lakh NGOs in the country had submitted their returns or balance sheets and other financial details to authorities.