Audit ordered on India’s three million charities

With‘‘With comescomes NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court has directed the government to audit over three million charities in the country, many of which have received millions of dollars of state funds, but have failed to show how the money was spent.

The court on Tuesday criticised the government for not having a regulatory mechanism in place to monitor grants to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and directed authorities to recover misused funds and take criminal action against any fraudulent charities.

“It is unfortunate that most of the NGOs do not conduct audits,” said the order given by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar.

“Those NGOs who did not file their balance sheets and misused public funds would have to face action, including civil and criminal prosecution.”

The court, which was hearing a petition by lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma seeking proper monitoring of funds to charities, ordered the audit reports to be submitted by March 31.

Less than 10% of the 3.3 million charities have submitted their financial accounts as per government requirements, according to data by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

More than 10,000 charities have had their licences to receive overseas donations canceled or suspended since 2014.

Home Ministry officials say these groups violated the Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA) by not disclosing donation details or using foreign funds to engage in “antinational” activities. – Reuters