The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has said that many children shelter homes in the country are running illegally and receiving funds from certain suspicious foreign organisations. NCPCR said this in its reply affidavit filed on November 6, in a case on several petitions challenging to the provisions of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA),
In its reply affidavit filed in the court, the NCPCR highlighted the names of certain NGOs, including Harsh Mander’s Centre for Equity Studies (CES), where funds had allegedly been diverted or were received from suspicious sources.
.@NCPCR_ tells SC that many child care homes receive funds from ‘suspicious foreign organisations’. NGO “Centre for Equity Studies” & child care homes (also run at behest of Harsh Mander) receive funds sans FCRA registration.@Swarupama@sai_prasad_lawhttps://t.co/QqPlEQmLea
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) November 11, 2021
The NCPCR filed the reply affidavit in one case among a batch of petitions challenging the validity of section 7 of the FCRA Act, which prohibits the transfer of foreign funds. A Supreme Court bench consisting of Justices Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Ravi Kumar had reserved this batch of petitions for orders on November 9, 2021.
The reply by the apex child body states that the affidavit is being filed to document NCPCR’s efforts to prevent NGOs from misusing foreign funds. It goes on to say that there are NGOs that do not have FCRA registration but are sponsored by NGOs that do have FCRA registration to receive foreign donations.
It may be recalled that on February 20 2021, the Economic Offence Wing of Delhi Police had registered a case under multiple sections against Harsh Mander’s Centre for Equity Studies (CES) and its officials after an inspection by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) revealed financial irregularities in shelter homes established by the NGO. A case of child sexual abuse was also alleged in one of the shelter homes.
In the reply, NCPCR said it discovered that Harsh Mander’s Centre for Equity Studies, which has FCRA registration and is eligible to receive foreign funding, provided funds to another NGO, Rainbow Foundation India, which does not have FCRA registration but operates CCIs in various cities across the country.
NCPCR raids several children shelter homes and find financial irregularities
During the inspection of the aforementioned CCIs in Delhi, NCPCR allegedly discovered non-compliance with mandatory requirements of the Juvenile Justice Act, as well as numerous offences under the POCSO Act.
Likewise, the NCPCR affidavit cited another example where inspection of 5 children homes in Assam and Manipur run by Markaz-ul-Maarif revealed that these homes have also been receiving funds from certain foreign agencies in addition to receiving government grants. The probe had also revealed how the children were kept in these homes without being produced before the Child Welfare Committees and with no registration as mandated under the Juvenile Justice Act 2015.
Further, the reply affidavit mentioned a home called Markaz Darul Yatama Home, Dhurbi that has been receiving funds from a Turkey-based organisation called IHH. The Turkish law officers interrogated IHH and found out that it is linked with international organisations. The reply states that an FIR has been registered by Assam Police against Markaz Darul Yatama for Boys and Hojai.
In fact, last year, the apex child rights body had expressed apprehensions of possible financial irregularities in over 600 child care institutions, run by NGOs and housing 28,000 children as it informed that these shelter homes received up to Rs 6 lakh per child in foreign funds in 2018-19, far more than the estimated average expenditure.
Owing to such a large extent of financial irregularities, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has backed the Centre’s concerns about non-government organisations (NGOs) misusing foreign donations, prompting Parliament to modify the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).
These changes are now being challenged in a series of petitions before the Supreme Court, which were reserved on Tuesday.
Justifying the Centre’s decision to amend the FCRA Act to regulate foreign contribution to NGOs, SG Tushar Mehta, appearing for the centre, told in the Supreme Court that “there are intelligence inputs that most of the time, money is received by NGOs like Harsh Mander’s Centre for Equity Studies (CES) for development works but is used to train Naxalites”.
The Centre also noted that foreign contributions had doubled during the years 2010-19 and several recipients of foreign funding had not utilized the funds for the purposes specified for receiving donations.
While reserving the matter for pronouncing judgment, the Supreme Court, in turn, said that the NGOs should not be allowed to receive foreign funds if the donor did not declare the purpose for which the money is to be spent and said the Centre has diluted the intent of FCRA by not insisting on such a provision. It allowed the Central govt and petitioners to submit notes of their submissions within this week.
