New guidelines for NGOs, VOs

• The Centre has handed over to the Supreme Court the new guidelines framed for accreditation of nearly 30 lakh NGOs and voluntary organisations (VOs) in the country.
• The Ministry of Rural Development has framed the accreditation guidelines to regulate the NGOs and VOs.
• The Supreme Court directed the government to audit nearly 30 lakh NGOs which received public funds but consistently failed to explain how they spent the money.
• The court had ordered that any NGO, found in the audit, to have cooked its books or indulged in misappropriation of the public funds should be subject to immediate criminal prosecution. Besides, the government should initiate civil recovery proceedings from these rogue NGOs. The court had demanded that the government file a compliance report by March 31, 2017.

Some of the important guidelines are as follows:

• NITI Aayog has been appointed as the nodal agency for the purpose of registration and accreditation of VOs/NGOs seeking funding from the Government of India.
• NGO will be blacklisted if it provides false and misleading information to the Centre.
• NGOs would be provided a unique ID and subjected to the Income Tax Act and Foreign Contribution Regulations act.
• A three-tier scrutiny would be in place to evaluate utilization of funds and the process would also include quality of work done by the NGOs.
• It would be mandatory for the NGOs to execute a bond to refund the amount with 10% interest if they fail to execute the project for which the grant is allocated. Misappropriation of funds would invite both criminal and civil cases.

By: Vishal