CBI analysis on 22 lakh NGOs across the country showed that of the 22,39,971 NGOs functioning in 20 States, about 2,23,428 submitted annual returns. In six of the Union Territories, of the 5,684 NGOs, only 50 filed their balance sheets.
The CBI report was a response to the Supreme Court’s directive on a PIL petition filed by advocate Manohar Sharma alleging misuse of funds by Anna Hazare’s NGO, Hind Swaraj Trust.
The court had expanded the scope of the petition and directed the CBI to file the entire list of NGOs in the country registered under the Societies Registration Act. It had also ordered the agency to find out whether these organisations filed their funding and expenditure details with the authority they were registered with.
The CBI said no information was forthcoming from New Delhi. As of now, The Tamil Nadu and Telangana governments had not given any information to the CBI on the NGOs functioning in these States. and their financial details. The Bench has issued notice to the State counsel of the two States.
Meanwhile, among the 20 States, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of NGOs, at 5,48,148, and of which 1,19,000 of them submit annual returns. Maharashtra has 5,18,437 registered NGOs, of which 77,766 file balance sheets. Kerala shows 3.6 lakh registered NGOs, but none files balance sheets as there is no provision in the State’s statute requiring them to do so. Similar is the case with Punjab and Rajasthan, which have over 1.36 lakh registered NGOs. Of the 2.34 lakh NGOs in West Bengal, only 17,089 were found to be active and filing annual returns.
In Jammu and Kashmir, all 147 registered NGOs file annual returns. of the 147 NGOs registered, all file annual returns.
In the Northeast, none of the NGOs in Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura file returns.
