Teesta Setalvad's NGO licence suspended

New Delhi, Sep 11: The Ministry for Home Affairs has suspended the registration of the Teesta Setalvad run Sabrang Trust under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act of 2010.

As a result of this move the foreign funds to the NGO will be blocked. The NGO will not be allowed to receive foreign funds too until the suspension is in force.

The notice was issued today by the Ministry for Home Affairs. Earlier similar action was taken against the NGO, Greepeance India as well. The notice was issued under Section 13 of the FCRA.

The decision to suspend the registration of the NGO under the FCRA was taken after it was found that the Sabrang Trust had allegedly used foreign funds to the tune of 2,50,000 US dollars for purposes other than it was intended to.

Investigations showed that the funds were received by the NGO from the Ford Foundation which is also under the scanner of the Union Home Ministry. It was further alleged by the investigators that the trust used the funds to lobby with media persons in a bid to address communalism and caste based discrimination.

However, the NGO was registered to carry out education related work.

Earlier the Sabrang trust had told the MHA that the charges were baseless.

Teesta had claimed that the probe is politically motivated and the same had been initiated because she had challenged the government in Gujarat when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister.

OneIndia News