Fresh trouble for Greenpeace

Greenpeace India is at the receiving end again. This time, it is in the cross hairs of the Tamil Nadu government.

The Tamil Nadu registrar of societies on Wednesday inspected the green group's Chennai office as part of an investigation into its organisational status, said Greenpeace, alleging this was yet another move to shut it down.

During a quickly scheduled visit at 11.30 am, a team of investigators from the Tamil Nadu government entered the Greenpeace India office, said the activist group. Refusing to submit their request in writing, the team members said they were looking into the organisation's society status - the legal basis on which Greenpeace operates in India. Investigation into the issue is on. Divya Raghunandan, programme director, said, "We refuse to be intimidated, and we will cooperate fully with this investigation, as we have done throughout. This week our society status is under investigation, next week we will face a huge tax bill. The pattern here is so obvious it is frankly embarrassing for the government."

Greenpeace India has been summoned to a tax hearing on June 12, for the year 2012-13. This comes on the heels of the government retrospectively removing its tax exemption on a number of items. Greenpeace said it expects a bill about Rs 3 c rore, which would represent most of its operational budget for the next few months.

"Greenpeace India is a charity, and thus should be exempt from most taxes. But the government has chosen to retrospectively remove its tax exemption on a number of items," a statement said.