ITEM NO.6 COURT NO.1 SECTION PIL(W)

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Writ Petition (Crl.) No(s).172/2011 MANOHAR LAL SHARMA ADVOCATE Petitioner(s)

VERSUS STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ORS. Respondent(s)

(With appln.(s) for extension of time and office report)

Date : 10/01/2017 This petition was called on for hearing today.

CORAM :

HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE D.Y. CHANDRACHUD Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi Sr. Adv.(A.C.)

Ms. Sansriti Pathak,Adv.

For Petitioner(s) In-person Ms. Suman,Adv.

For Respondent(s) Mr. Tushar Mehta,ASG CBI Mr. P.K. Dey,Adv.

Ms. Rashmi Malhotra,Adv. Mr. Subhash Acharya,Adv.

Mr. M.K. Maroria,Adv.

No.1 Mr. Susheel Kumar Tomar,Adv.

Ms. Sujita Srivastav,Adv.

Mr. Nishant Ramakantrao Katneshwarkar,Adv.

No.5 Mr. S.K. Rungta,Adv.

Mr. Prashant Singh,Adv.

Mr. K. Kumar,Adv.

For Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal,Adv.

State of Mr. C.D. Singh,Adv.

Chhatisgarh Mr. Sandeepan Pathak,Adv.

Mr. Rahul Rajput,Adv.

Ms. Sakshi Kakkar,Adv.

State of TN Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna,Adv.

Signature Not Verified Ms. Nithya,Adv.

SARITA PUROHIT Date: 2017.01.14 Reason:

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following

O R D E R

1. The submissions addressed by Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, learned amicus curiae, reveal substantial funding, both to Voluntary Organizations (VO's) and to Non-Government Organizations (NGO's). This is apparent from the factual position depicted in paragraph 5 of the aide memoire filed by the learned amicus curiae. The same is reproduced hereunder :

“According to the study during the FY

2002-03 to 2008-09 the Union Government granted Rs.4756,71,26395/- to the VOs/NGOs while the State Governments/UTs released 1,897,64,61,289/-. On a conservative estimate a total of Rs.6654,35,87,684/- were released during the said period on an average of Rs.950,62,26,812/- per year (figures indicated, tentative as number of States had not provided information)”

(Emphasis is ours)

2. In addition to the above, it is necessary to refer to an affidavit of compliance, filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in furtherance of the motion bench order dated 2^nd September, 2013, wherein, Annexure-A depicts the number of NGOs and also indicates the State-wise annual income/expenditure statement to the concerned authority, before which they are registered. The same affirms, that there are 32,97,044 existing NGO's, out of which merely 3,07,072 NGO's are filing their balance sheets. The above data is stated to have been obtained by the learned amicus curiae, from a report published by the Asian Centre for Human Rights.

3. It was the contention of learned amicus curiae, that a regulatory mechanism has been in place, for auditing funds released by Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART). The aforesaid regulatory procedure is contemplated by Rules 210-212 of the General Financial Rules, 2005. The same are being extracted hereuner :

“Rule 210. Accounts of Grantee Institutions :

Institutions or Organizations receiving grants should, irrespective of the amount involved, be required to maintain subsidiary accounts of the Government grant and furnish to the Accounts Officer a set of audited statement of accounts. These audited statements of accounts should be required to be furnished after utilization of the grants-in-aid or whenever called for.

Rule 211. Audit of Accounts of Grants-in-Aid :

(1) The accounts of all grantee Institutions or Organizations shall be open to inspection by the sanctioning authority and audit, both by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India under the provision of CAG (DPC) Act 1971 and internal audit by the Principal Accounts Office of the Ministry or Department, whenever the Institution or Organization is called upon to do so and a provision to this effect should invariably be incorporated in all orders sanctioning grants-in-aid.

(2) (a) The accounts of the grantee Institution or Organization shall be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India under Section 14