F.No.11/21022/52(0062)/2012-FCRA-(MU) ‘Government of India Ministry of Home Affairs Foreigners Division, FCRA Wing Monitoring Unit NDCC-Hi Building, Jai Singh Road. ‘New Dethi-110001 Dated the 4" Tie, 2015 The Chief Functionary, Citizen for Justice and Peace, NIRANT, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai - 400049, Maharashtra. Subject Inspection of books and accounts for the years 2006-07 to 2013-2014 under the provisions of FCRA, 2010, Sir, 1am directed to refer to this Ministry's letter of even number dated 25.03.2015 on the subject captioned above. 2. Your association was registered under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 6 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976 [FCRA, 1976], which has been repealed under section $4 of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 [FCRA, 2010] (42 of 2010), vide registration No.083781100R under nature Economic & Educational on 21.11.2007. 3. Under Section 23 of FCRA, 2010 an on-site inspection of the records and books of ‘accounts of the association pertaining to foreign contribution received and utilization was carried out on 06" April to 08" April, 2015. * During the course of inspection, the following discrepancies were noticed ~ i) It was noticed that the Chief Functionary of the association, Ms. Teesta Setalvad and Mr. Javed Anand are working as the Secretary and the Trustee of the association respectively. Both are also working as co-Editor, printers, publisher of the company namely, Sabrang Communications & Publishing Pvt. Lid. This company was Publishing a Magazine called “Communglism Combat” vide registration No. RNI No.MAHEG/1993-1148. Further both the Secretary and the Trustee of the association, from time to time keep on writing various articles in Newspapers & Magazinesii) iii) Whereas the Section 4(1}(b) of FCRA, 1976 which stated inter-alia “No foreign contribution shall be accepted by any. - correspondent, columnist, cartoonist editor, owner, printer or publisher of a registered newspaper’ has now been repealed under Section 54(1). Section $4(2\(a) read with the Section 3(1}(b) of FCRA, 2010 states inter-alia that No foreign contribution shall be accepted by any - correspondent, columnist, cartoonist, editor, owner, printer or publisher of a registered newspaper and Section 3(1{h) of FCRA, 2010 further states that correspondent or columnist, cartoonist, editor, owner of the associ company referred to in clause(g) are prohibited from receiving any foreign contribution Thus the association has violated the Section 3(1\(b) & (h) of FCRA, 2010. The association received a total foreign contribution of Rs.1,18,11,745 (excluding bank interest thereon) during the financial years from 2008-2009 to 2013-2014. Out of which more than 80% i.e. Rs.95,05,600/- received for ‘Legal Aid’. As already explained in para 2 above, the association was registered for “Educational and Ecofomic’ purposes, but they received foreign contribution for the activity stated as “Legal Aid’ which is covered under purpose ‘Social’ under registration guidelines. Hence the association has violated the mandate of the registration certificate The association reflected two different figures towards expenses incurred on “legal aid” in their books of account for the financial year 2009-2010 viz. “income and Expenditure Accounts’ shows Rs.9,69,706/- and in ‘Receipt of Payment Accounts’ shows Rs.6,59,815/- respectively However, the association received foreign contribution for Legal Aid during the year 2009-2010 as Rs.6,95,500/- ‘Thus the association attracts the Section 33(a) of FCRA, 2010 as they have given different figures in different account statements and also they have violated the mandate of Registration Certificate by receiving foreign contribution for the purpose for which it has not been registered. iv) The Association submitted the false and misleading information for the financial years from 2008-09 to 2010-11 which has not been properly synchronized as the purposes for which funds were received and reported to the Ministry were at variance ~ oa Purpose for which amount | Amount Purpose Shown in FC-3/6 and No] Year | Recewed } received by the association | "PEC" | submited tothe Ministry [rors] irara30 | Parte of ammanee TH | Re tran tons BO \ | (snibslaceara Mee Seve) 7eass07 10°01 293.1591 ‘aga 9300. Rave 695000 10.00 asis9: sign, Docancattion sd Danae Legs ass “To Pwchase ofan Anbutce Aces ot th mene shove Notinow (Gene) Gener Teint oer an ean abo Activites ote than meson above Aeris eke thar mension ove ‘Atos other than mentioned above Celebration of maton eens aociey. axes 1624497. Providing He pa wR sigan aanaea- 933.66. 634497: Celebration of maior ever Ceteeation of ational es | Celebration of etn event Celebration of rations eh — 30128" | saison ‘Rete te he enn above satan 288859 Celebration f national evens Thus the association attracts the Section 33(a) of FCRA, 2010. Association further submitted statement for the financial years for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 which has also not been properly synchronized as the closing balance of the preceding year was not reported same as the opening balance of the sueceeding year to the Ministry as under ~ SIN. Financial | Remarks Year "Amount Received Closing Balance 2009-2010 |" 18,71,8267- | 12,04,i87/- '25,844/- | After utilization of Rs.30,30,165/ 2010-2011 | 4,58.926/- | 32,85,8597 | 12,76.433/- | After utilization of Rs 24,68,352/. vi) 2 observatior Thus the association attracts the Section 33(a) of FCRA, 2010. Similarly, while the association shows the amount of Rs.3,48,884/- received from UNFVT (Geneva) during the year 2009-2010 in the account statement (Income & Expenditure) which submitted alongwith FC-3 return for the year and the same was intimated to the Ministry, but that amount has not been found in the Bank Statement for the period Thus the association attracts the Section 33(a) of FCRA, 2010. The association is requested to submit their parawise comments on the ns as stated above to this Ministry within 15 days of issue of this letter. In case no response is received within the time, it will be presumed that association has nothing to say in this regard and further action will be taken as per rules enforce. Yours faithfully Bad Anand Jéshi Under Secretary to the Government of India FCRA (MU)