Headlines
Will challenge home ministry order in court: Greenpeace India
New Delhi, April 11
Greenpeace India on
Saturday issued a point by point rebuttal of charges made against it by
the government and said it would not only challenge the order in courts
but also continue to campaign fearlessly.
"This (freezing of
accounts) means that GP India's permission to receive money from
overseas is currently suspended. It does not mean that GP India itself
has been shut down or will have to shut down. GP India gets nearly 70
percent of its income from domestic donations and will continue to
operate on those funds even as it fights the Foreign Contribution
Regulation Act (FCRA) suspension," said the environmental watchdog in a
statement.
The government on Thursday announced it has
"temporarily" suspended the registration of Greenpeace India under the
foreign contributions law for "under-reporting" such funding and
conducting transactions in such funds without informing the authorities
as required by the law.
Along with the 180-day suspension, the
ministry of home affairs froze all seven bank accounts of the
organisation and served it a show-cause notice seeking an explanation
why its licence should not be cancelled.
Greenpeace India said it
believed this is an escalation of the intimidation campaign that
started with a "leaked" Intelligence Bureau report in June last year.
"It
is the government using strongarm tactics to clamp down on dissenting
voices in civil society. We have been vindicated in our position more
than once in the courts. In fact, the Delhi High Court held that the
actions of the home ministry in the Priya Pillai case were arbitrary and
the charges against Greenpeace India were misconceived," a statement
from Greenpeace said.
"We will not only challenge the ministry of
home affairs in courts, but also continue to campaign fearlessly on the
issues we work on," it said.
Greenpeace claimed that some of its
domestic accounts have been frozen as well. It also denied the
allegation that it had sponsored a Channel 4 (Britain) journalist's
visit to the Mahan forests in Madhya Pradesh.
"This is one of the
many lies in the home ministry report. In a response to Greenpeace,
Hugo Ward, director of the programme from Channel 4, denied the
allegation," the statement said.
On high salaries being paid to
certain senior employees, it said: "We believe that good talent should
also be able to work on issues of environment and social justice, and we
like to make this possible."
"However, we ensure that there is
parity between the amount paid to the executive director and the lowest
paid employee in the organisation."
Reacting to charges of
under-reporting of foreign contributions, the organisation said there
was a typographical error that was made in a hard copy submitted and "we
have admitted to it".
The home ministry had alleged that the
opening balance of one account for 2008-2009, which was reported as nil
in the auditor's certificate was actually Rs.6,60,31,783.