NEW DELHI: Centre Monday told Supreme Court that NGO ‘Environics Trust‘, which received 90% of its funds from foreign sources, has utilised the resources to finance agitations and protests against coal, steel, and thermal power projects to stall the pace of development in India.
Opposing NGO’s appeal against a Delhi HC order rejecting its challenge to withdrawal of income tax exemption, solicitor general Tushar Mehta said because of utilisation of foreign funds for a purpose other than the NGO’s stated objectives, permission to receive money from abroad under FCRA as well as exemption from paying I-T were cancelled.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said the I-T department’s assessment and re-assessment of the NGO’s taxable income would continue but directed authorities not to pass final orders based on such evaluation of evidence relating to its income. It asked the NGO to fully cooperate with assessment proceedings.
Countering senior advocate S Muralidhar’s arguments on behalf of the NGO, Mehta said the brief counter affidavit filed by the I-T department clearly showed that “Environics Trust is funded by foreign entities for stalling public projects in India and abroad. It is also found that the Trust is arranging protesters against projects on payment basis”.
IT department in an affidavit said the Trust “has funded protests against development projects in a village in Odisha under the guise of distribution of relief packages to households. The Trust has transferred an amount of Rs 1,250 per individual from its ICICI bank account to those individuals who were involved in the said protests and named in the FIR registered in this regard.”
The I-T department said evidence from WhatsApp chats revealed NGO’s managing trustee Sreedhar Ramamurthi informing Pratirodh Sangram Samiti’s Prashant Paikray about the Trust transferring Rs 1,250 each in bank accounts of 711 people and admission that the Trust worked with foreign entities including ‘Fair Green and Global Alliance II, which comprised six Dutch member organisations.
“One Jo Woodman and Trust’s managing trustee Sreedhar were found to be involved in conspiring against coal plants in India and planning to sabotage these projects with the help of some foreign nationals and entities,” it said, adding that the Trust in collaboration with ‘European Climate Change’ are protesting thermal power projects in India.”
Mehta said in 2022, a survey was carried out against Environics Trust along with other trusts like Centre for Policy Research, Oxfam India, Legal Initiative for Forest & Environment and Care India Solution for Sustainable Development. “These organisations have close relations with each other, and their main persons are inter-linked. These NGOs are directly or indirectly involved in agitation or litigation beyond their stated objectives,” it found.
Opposing NGO’s appeal against a Delhi HC order rejecting its challenge to withdrawal of income tax exemption, solicitor general Tushar Mehta said because of utilisation of foreign funds for a purpose other than the NGO’s stated objectives, permission to receive money from abroad under FCRA as well as exemption from paying I-T were cancelled.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said the I-T department’s assessment and re-assessment of the NGO’s taxable income would continue but directed authorities not to pass final orders based on such evaluation of evidence relating to its income. It asked the NGO to fully cooperate with assessment proceedings.
Countering senior advocate S Muralidhar’s arguments on behalf of the NGO, Mehta said the brief counter affidavit filed by the I-T department clearly showed that “Environics Trust is funded by foreign entities for stalling public projects in India and abroad. It is also found that the Trust is arranging protesters against projects on payment basis”.
IT department in an affidavit said the Trust “has funded protests against development projects in a village in Odisha under the guise of distribution of relief packages to households. The Trust has transferred an amount of Rs 1,250 per individual from its ICICI bank account to those individuals who were involved in the said protests and named in the FIR registered in this regard.”
The I-T department said evidence from WhatsApp chats revealed NGO’s managing trustee Sreedhar Ramamurthi informing Pratirodh Sangram Samiti’s Prashant Paikray about the Trust transferring Rs 1,250 each in bank accounts of 711 people and admission that the Trust worked with foreign entities including ‘Fair Green and Global Alliance II, which comprised six Dutch member organisations.
“One Jo Woodman and Trust’s managing trustee Sreedhar were found to be involved in conspiring against coal plants in India and planning to sabotage these projects with the help of some foreign nationals and entities,” it said, adding that the Trust in collaboration with ‘European Climate Change’ are protesting thermal power projects in India.”
Mehta said in 2022, a survey was carried out against Environics Trust along with other trusts like Centre for Policy Research, Oxfam India, Legal Initiative for Forest & Environment and Care India Solution for Sustainable Development. “These organisations have close relations with each other, and their main persons are inter-linked. These NGOs are directly or indirectly involved in agitation or litigation beyond their stated objectives,” it found.