Explosion of NGOs leaves Supreme Court startled

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court was on Wednesday startled by the number of NGOs operating in India, 31 lakh and counting, and decided to lay down a legal framework to regulate their funding, spending and working.

This could spell trouble for many NGOs as the Centre has initiated a process to examine which NGO received what amount from foreign sources and whether they had been permitted to receive monetary assistance from abroad under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act ( FCRA).

The CBI informed a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice A M Khanwilkar that only 8-10 per cent of the nearly 31 lakh NGOs had filed their accounts with Registrar of Societies (RoS) detailing receipt and spending of funds.

Appearing for the CBI, advocate P K Dey informed the SC that Telangana and Odisha, despite several reminders, had not furnished data on NGOs operating there.

The bench said: "This is a major problem. These are mind-boggling figures." The bench appointed senior lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi as amicus curiae and asked him to examine whether the SC could lay down a legal framework to monitor their activities, receipt of funds from government and abroad and the manner in which money was spent.

The SC's order coincides with steps taken by the Modi regime to supervise activities of the mushrooming NGOs and to make them accountable for the funds they get from the Centre and states.

Dey said in Assam, there were around 97,000 NGOs and none of them filed annual returns. The SC asked him: "There are so many NGOs. What do you want the court to do?"