Legal overreach

It has been heartening to note that the Centre’s call of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’ has manifested itself in several forms as well as forums. The progress on implementation of CSR laws has been laudable but certain amendments in existing Bills are being seen as questionable, in their efforts to counter the outliers.

The recent amendment of the Lokpal Bill requires NGO office bearers to declare all information, including their and their families’ personal assets. The Government notification also stipulates that those handling day-to-day operations of NGOs will be treated as public servants if the organisation receives Government funding of more than ₹1 crore or foreign funding of ₹10 lakh a year.

While the Government’s concerns around transparency may seem valid, if taken in the right spirit, the mechanism it is trying to set out needs to be revisited. There is a need for robust processes to be in place for public organisations to be compliant, but it goes without saying that a country as diverse and big as ours will have challenges when it comes to regulation.

Recently, few NGOs were flagged by the Government for violating the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, for engaging in activities outside their purview.

This amendment to the Lokpal Bill was proposed post this altercation between State and activist organisations, which seems rather knee-jerk in nature. The new law will lead to many passionate private sector individuals to sever their association with non-profits, which will hurt the larger social good.

The Government should consider a different approach without violating a person’s Right to Privacy; one that looks at strengthening governance at the institutional level without bringing its leaders and their families under public scrutiny.

For one, strengthening governance is essential to curb any corruption, the other is to benchmark performance through policy measures. Government agencies should probe further should there be any discrepancies in being transparent and accountable.

Departments such as Income Tax can seek specific information from members of the NGOs where dubious links or activities are suspected. The Government can certainly look at engaging experts from the private sector to act as third party regulators or auditors to improve their oversight on non-profits.

Systems can be put in place to make information sharing, easier and more efficient.

Finally, the Centre needs to engage with both, private sector and non-profits to mutually decide upon the steps to be taken to develop adequate measures to tackle corruption rather than respond peremptorily on account of a few.

It is heartening to see that the Government has heard the concerns voiced by NGOs and civil society and has sent it back to the Standing Committee for review.

Hopefully, this will lead to an engaged debate with all stakeholders, resulting in a policy which is consistent and relevant to our need.

The writer is Vice Chairman, PwC India Foundation