NGOs receiving Rs one crore govt grant to be under Lokpal

By Ashwini Shrivastava

New Delhi: In order to keep a check on the funding of NGOs, organisations receiving more than Rs one crore as government grant and donations above Rs 10 lakh from abroad have been brought under the ambit of the Lokpal.

Under the new rules, office bearers of such NGOs will be treated as “public servants” and charged under the anti-corruption law in case of irregularities, official sources said here today.

The Home Ministry has been made the “competent authority” to take action against executives of foreign-funded NGOs in case they are found misutilising overseas grants, they said.

Any person who is or has been a director, manager, secretary or any other officer of a society, association of persons or trust (whether registered under any law for the time being in force or not), wholly or partly financed by the government, and the annual income of which exceeds Rs one crore will be under the Lokpal ambit, as per the new rules issued by the Department of Personnel and Training.

The move comes close on the heels of the government cancelling licences of two NGOs — Lawyers Collective and Sabrang Trust–recently for allegedly misutilising funds received from overseas.

The new rules will apply to the NGOs, Limited Liability Partnership firms or any such group partly or wholly financed by the central government.

Any of the top executives of the NGOs are supposed to file annual returns relating to receipt of donations from a foreign source “till such time the entire amount of the donation aforesaid, received by such society or association of persons or trust stands fully utilised”, it said.

In case of NGOs receiving government grants here, the Minister-in-charge of a department of ministry giving the highest amount of aid to any such organisation will act as the competent authority to decide on action in the event of violations by them.

The annual returns by the NGOs will be filed with the department concerned giving the highest amount of government help, said the new rules made under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.

The annual returns will also need to be filed by top functionaries, including the director, manager or secretary, as applicable to central government employees, it said.

“The new rules bring officials working under the NGOs funded by the government under the Lokpal’s ambit and subject to legal action against them for misusing the grant or for alleged corruption,” a senior official in the Personnel Ministry said.

The institution of Lokpal is yet to be set up by the Centre as a bill to amend the Lokpal Act is pending in Parliament.

As per rules, already notified under the Act, every public servant shall file annual returns pertaining to his assets and liabilities, along with that of spouse and dependent children.

PTI