In a fresh trouble for social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand, the Union Ministry of Home (MHA) has recently issued notices to her NGOs Sabarang Trust and Citizens for Justice & Peace (CJP) for violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) norms. The MHA has also directed CJP and Sabrang Trust to submit their replies within 15 days, failing which action will be taken.
The notices have been issued based on an on-site inspection of records and books of accounts done by MHA officials in April this year. It clearly states that Setalvad and Anand — the chief functionaries of the NGOs have violated Section 3(1)(b) and (h) of FCRA. They were working as co-editors of Communalism Combat magazine and are also printer and publisher of their company Sabrang Communication and Publishing Pvt ltd (SCPPl). It is prohibited under the law which clearly states: “No foreign contribution shall be accepted by any correspondent, columnist, cartoonist, editor, owner, printer or publisher of a registered newspaper”
According to notice, CJP had received a total foreign contribution of around `1.18 crore during the financial year 2008-09 to 2013-14 in which more than 80%, nearly `95 lakh was revived for legal aid. While the association was registered for ‘Educational & Economic’ purposes but they received foreign contribution for the activities as ‘legal Aid’ which is covered under purpose ‘Social’. Hence, it violated the mandate of the registration certificate.
“On review of vouchers of the association it was found that Sabrang Trust have made direct payment of `12 lakh from FCRA designated account to Citi Bank and Union Bank of India on account of Credit facilities taken through Credit Cards belonging to Setalvad and Anand. This amounts to use of foreign contribution for the purposes not authorised as per the provisions of FCRA 2010 thus association has violated Section 8(1) (a) of FCRA 2010,” the notice said. MHA officials have also observed that Anand has taken international medical policy for visiting lahore and debited the amount in the account of Sabrang Trust. Further even book purchases and travel expenses incurred by him to attend meeting with People’s Union For Civil liberties (PUCl) were debited in Sabrang Trust in violation of Section 8(1)(a) of FCRA.
The MHA inspection has also revealed that an amount of `50 lakh was transferred by Sabrang Trust to SCPPl which is not registered under FCRA. As per FCRA rules it prohibits transfer of foreign contribution to other person unless such other person is also registered and had been granted the certificate or obtained prior permission under this Act.
During inspection MHA officials also found various anomalies such as Administrative Expenditure exceeding more than 50 per cent. Besides, different figures towards expenses incurred on legal aid in the books of accounts and in the receipts of payment accounts, closing balance of the proceeding year was not reported as opening balance and even the funds received from United Nations not found in the bank statement.