HC disposes of plea for probe against team Anna & NGOs

A bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice V K Jain disposed of the plea after the Centre informed the court that while some of the NGOs affiliated to anti-graft activist Anna Hazare's team had received foreign funds, which were utilised irregularly, it does not warrant any criminal investigation.

The bench was also not pleased with the fact that the petitioner, advocate M L Sharma, had not appeared before it on the last three hearings of the case, including yesterday.

"It (Sharma's absence) happened on December 5, 2012 January 16, yesterday and even today also. Status report has been filed by the respondent (Centre), we are disposing of the plea," the bench said.

The Centre, in its affidavit, said that NGOs Navjyoti Indian Foundation and India Vision Foundation, run by Kiran Bedi, and NGO Kabir, run by Manish Sisodia, had received foreign funds but the same was not used for any political activity or India Against Corruption (IAC) movement.

It has also said that "inspections were carried out in August and also in November 2012 under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and FCR Rules and some irregularities were found. These irregularities are not serious enough at this stage to warrant a criminal investigation.

"During inspection no documentary proof in the records of the association was found to show the use of the fund in any such political activity or in India Against Corruption (IAC) movement or agitation. (MORE)