High Court allowed Greenpeace India to operate two of its domestic accounts

The Delhi High Court on 26 May 2015 allowed Greenpeace India to operate two of its domestic accounts and access its fixed deposits. The high court bench of Justice Rajiv Shakdher also allowed Greenpeace to encash its fixed deposits and utilise the funds for running the organisation.

The court said it was giving the interim relief to the Non Government Organisation (NGO) so that it can continue to work at the moment. The court clarified that the NGO cannot utilise the amount frozen by the government.

The court was hearing a plea of Greenpeace India to de-freeze its international and national bank accounts.

In April 2015, the accounts were blocked following a directive from Union Home Ministry. However, the Union Government reiterated that Greenpeace India violated the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act by merging its foreign donations with domestic ones.

Greenpeace India had filed a plea in court against the cancellation of its registration, saying that it was facing an imminent shut-down and it had barely a month to survive with the government recently freezing its accounts, over allegations of foreign funding that were specifically meant to target India’s economic and development interests.

The organisation has also faced a host of other penalties for which they have approached the court in the past.

The government had suspended Greenpeace India’s license for six months, which had barred it from receiving foreign funds. It had also issued a show cause notice to them asking why it should not be shut down permanently.

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