Take government nod before foreign funding: High Court to Greenpeace

NEW DELHI: The Madras high court has ruled that Greenpeace cannot receive any foreign funding without prior government approval. The October 1 order has reversed the initial relief the court had given to the NGO against the home ministry’s notification cancelling Greenpeace India’s FCRA registration.

The HC has asked the NGO to keep the government informed on its day-to-day expenses. “…It is also made clear that the petitioner shall not receive any foreign remittance until further orders. If any expenditure has to be made, that has to be accounted for by giving appropriate particulars to the respondent,” read the judgment by justice MM Sundresh.

Greenpeace India interim chief Vinuta Gopal told ET via e-mail that her organisation was willing to forgo foreign funding until the legal processes are completed. The court had directed that the NGO’s domestic account should not be frozen.

“We have told the court that we are happy to wait for the legal process to be completed, and are not seeking access to the international funding for now. The bulk of our funding comes from our domestic supporters,” she said.

Senior counsel representing the government in the Madras High Court, K Gunasekar told ET over phone: “We have argued that the writ petition filed by Greenpeace is not maintainable and after hearing the additional solicitor-general, the court issued directions that the Greenpeace cannot receive foreign funding without informing us.” The government will try again to get the rest of the stay on its order removed.

According to home ministry estimates about 30 per cent of the NGO’s costs of operation depends on foreign funding. Gunasekar also said the court had directed the registry to downgrade the NGO’s writ petition into a civil miscellaneous application which may take longer to resolve. The court also asked the registry to post the matter within a week.