A case has been filed towards environmental legal professional Ritwick Dutta and his non-earnings via way of means of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for alleged violation of overseas investment rules. Mr Dutta, who has co-authored a ee-e book on woodland conservation with Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, runs the non-earnings Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE).
The CBI alleged Mr Dutta got ₹ forty one Lakh in overseas contributions in financial 2014 from US-primarily based totally `Earth Justice’, a non-earnings that finances surroundings legal professionals in numerous international locations to litigate towards coal projects. Mr Dutta then created LIFE Proprietorship, which finally received ₹ 22 crore from Earth Justice at some stage in 2016 to 2021 as “expert receipt”, the CBI stated.
The CBI alleged Earth Justice and some other US-primarily based totally non-earnings, Sandler Foundation, had been making plans to fund criminal activism and take down India’s current and proposed coal projects, that is a contravention of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
The investigators stated those finances had been intended to damage India’s countrywide and financial security. They stated the European Climate Foundation is likewise routing $120,000 thru Earth Justice to Mr Dutta’s LIFE for litigation, and so the instances that LIFE is combating in India are clearly funded via way of means of the overseas non-profits, which aren’t the litigants.
