On Friday, the Supreme Court of India, consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala, ordered the Union of India to create a comprehensive legislative or administrative plan for the regulation of funds received by non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The directive was issued in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Advocate ML Sharma, who claimed that Anna Hazare had misused government funds for personal gain.

At the outset, Advocate ML Sharma submitted the–

“This matter has been pending since 2011. I filed this PIL against Anna Hazare for withdrawing money from the government and using it for himself.”

CJI DY Chandrachud, while seeking a response from the government, said–

“The essence of this petition deals with regulating funds that come to NGOs. Has the Union of India put into place any regulations or framework? Come back with a comprehensive scheme that the Union of India will formulate. It can be either a legislative or an administrative scheme. Tell us what the position is.”

At the hearing, Advocate ML Sharma argued that not only should future issues be addressed by the proposed regulations, but NGOs that have already received government funds should also be punished. The Supreme Court stated that it would further consider the issue and scheduled the matter for discussion in four weeks.