India's top court pulls up federal govt for lack of regulatory mechanism to monitor NGO funds

The Supreme Court of India, India's top court, today pulled up the Centre for not putting in place a regulatory mechanism to monitor the funds and their utilisation by NGOs, societies and voluntary organisations.

A bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar directed the Rural Development Secretary and Director of Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), which comes under Rural Development Ministry, to be present before it this afternoon with all relevant records.

The bench, also comprising Justice N V Ramana and D Y Chandrachud, asked the officials to inform it whether Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit of NGOs post 2009 was carried out or not.

The bench also asked whether General Financial Rules 2005 made by Ministry of Finance were complied with or not.

The court, was hearing a petition filed by advocate M L Sharma, seeking monitoring of funds given to NGOs and their utilisation by them.

(PTI)