Greenpeace shown the door over fraud

New Delhi
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]C[/dropcap]oming to the aid of the Central Government in its pursuit to shut the door on NGOs who are allegedly hampering the development of the country at the behest of foreign powers, the Tamil Nadu Government on Friday cancelled the registration of Green Peace of India and gave the group 30 days to shut its operation over financial fraud and falsification of data.

“We received a letter on Friday morning from the Registrar of Societies, informing us of the decision”

– Greenpeace spokesperson

In his order for the cancellation of registration, the district registrar of Chennai pointed out that the society had committed fraudulent financial dealings. The Green Peace of India was registered as an NGO in Chennai.
The NGO has been accused of siphoning away ₹13.29 crores ($2 million) of foreign donations during the period 2004 to 2014. The Society did not show this sum in its account submitted to the registrar of societies.
Last year, the Central government had withdrawn permission to Greenpeace to receive foreign funding, alleging that it used the money to derail industrial projects. During the last six months, the government has also cancelled registrations of nearly 10,000 NGOs for failing to declare the details of foreign receipt.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he Modi government has launched a major crackdown against NGOs suspected of engaging in organizing the civil society to manufacture protests against several development projects in the field of building of dams and hydro power generation projects. But more than anything, it is alleged that Modi is also trying to settle a personal score against these NGOs, many of which were actively involved in running a campaign against him over 2002 Gujarat riots.
Reacting to the order for cancellation of the registration, Interim Executive Director of Greenpeace India, Vinuta Gopal, said: “The Registrar of Societies is clearly acting under directions of the Home Ministry in Delhi, which has been trying to shut Greenpeace India down for over a year now. The MHA’s clumsy tactics to suppress free speech and dissenting voices are turning into a major national and international embarrassment for this government,” said Vinuta Gopal, Interim Executive Director of Greenpeace India.
However, the fact remains that the Greenpeace of India did not submit its annual reports for the period of 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2009-10. This violates Rule 22 of the Tamil Nadu Societies registration Rule 1978.
“On inspection by the registrar, a series of irregularities and violations of the rules had been noticed. On the basis of the findings in that enquiry, a show cause notice dated 16-6-15 had been issued calling for explanation as to why the registration should not be cancelled,” said the registrar.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]The registrar added further that the Greenpeace of India ignored its several requests to submit its accounts and explain discrepancies in the account.
“The Green Peace society has contravened provisions of all laws dealing with registration of societis warranting the registrar to cancel the registration of the society,” the Registrar said in his seven-page order…
“We received a letter on Friday morning from the Registrar of Societies, informing us of the decision”, a spokesperson for Greenpeace said.

Note:
1. The conversion rate used in this article is 1 US Dollar = 65.80 Rupees.