Greenpeace sees MHA’s hand in Tamil Nadu notice, to move High Court
Chennai: Greenpeace has decided to move the high court after it received a notice on June 18 for alleged breach of TN Government’s regulations governing registered societies. The government had given the organisation seven days to respond to prevent cancellation of its NGO registration. The NGO said that the “perversely framed and maliciously designed” charges in the notice from the Registrar of Societies in TN were “baseless and arbitrary.”
The registrar’s action suggested that it might have been on orders of ministry of home affairs, the NGO said. The NGO said that as the registrar had concluded that the charges were sufficient to warrant cancellation of the NGO’s registration, the official had prejudiced the case and was not interested in any clarifications. The NGO alleged that it had been become “the target of hostile discrimination.”
“We are a legitimate organisation that has been operating legally in India for the last 14 years and this notice lacks legal basis. We have been the subject of a string of penalties imposed by MHA, all of which have been overturned by the Delhi High Court. We’re requesting the Registrar for more information,” said Greenpeace India interim co-executive director Vinutha Gopal.
The NGO claimed it had written to the Registrar several times seeking clarification, time to respond and an inspection of the Registrar’s records, but had failed to get a response. Refusal to respondamounted to a deliberate denial of justice” Gopal added.
The notice alleged that Greenpeace India Society is under the control of ‘Stichting Green Peace council of Netherlands. It also alleged inconsistencies between disclosure of foreign funding made to the MHA with regard to the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA) and to the Registrar with its final accounts. Gopal said they would full co-operate with the inspections because they had nothing to hide. Jitendra Kumar, an official of Greenpeace said that depending on their advocate’s decision, they are likely to move the court early next week.
