New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) violation against environmental lawyer Ritwick Dutta and his award-winning Delhi-based advocacy group for allegedly bringing foreign funds into India to “target and stall coal projects” and impact “India’s economic security”.
Dutta runs an advocacy group and NGO Legal Initiative for Forest And Environment (LIFE), which won the Swedish Right Livelihood Award – considered the “alternative” Nobel Prize – in 2021 for its community-based approach to environmental protection.
According to the First Information Report filed 19 April — a copy of which is with ThePrint — Ritwick Dutta received Rs 41 Lakh in foreign contribution in 2013 and 2014 from Earthjustice (EJ) USA and created LIFE Proprietorship.
Earthjustice is an American nonprofit dedicated to litigating environmental issues, according to its website.
According to the FIR, LIFE Proprietorship subsequently received Rs 22 crore from EJ during 2016 to 2021 as “professional receipt” — money the CBI claims was actually sent for “targeting and stalling development projects” and not for any litigation.
“Receipts by LIFE from EJ, masked as ‘professional receipts’, was actually funding for targeting and stalling development projects. LIFE was not offering legal advice to EJ for financial consideration, but being paid foreign funds to stall development projects,” the FIR says.
“In none of the cases was EJ a litigant, while in all, LIFE was the litigant,” it adds.
According to the FIR, funds continued to flow from EJ to Dutta, and they were “complicit in bringing foreign contribution into India to target and stall coal projects, which is an FCRA violation and it impacts economic security of India.”
“EJ and Sandler Foundation, USA were proposing to fund legal activism and take-down India’s existing or proposed coal projects, a violation of FCRA,” the FIR says.
In response to the allegations, Dutta told ThePrint that LIFE has never been a litigant in any case, nor has it ever received funds for litigation.
“It is never a lawyer who takes up a case, but the petitioner. The FIR says LIFE is the litigant, but LIFE has never been a litigant in any case. We have not been petitioners in any matter against anyone,” he said, adding: “I appear as a lawyer in my personal capacity representing petitioners who are local communities, retired bureaucrats, NGOs, and other concerned farmers, fisherfolks, etc.”
Dutta added that he will “cooperate with the process and respond to the FIR.”
Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LlFE) describes itself as a public interest environmental law group “which applies a unique combination of law, science and advocacy to protect biodiversity hotspots, flora and fauna, clean up air and water and protect vulnerable communities while ensuring that India adopts and implements a low carbon path of development and strengthening climate resilience”.
In 2018, Dutta represented the Dongria Kondh tribals seeking a ban on bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills in South-West Odisha, and won the case in the Supreme Court. The case was against Vedanta, India’s mining conglomerate.
In 2005, he co-wrote a book, Supreme Court on Forest Conservation, with Bhupender Yadav, today the Union minister of environment, forest and climate change.
Several environmental experts have expressed concern over the FIR filed against Dutta.
Working with and for marginalized communities, environment & ecology using facts and judicial system of the land is what Ritwick and @lifeindia2016 has been doing for so long and with so much dedication.
Baseless allegations and false narratives can't shatter such inspiring work. https://t.co/SvYrUEAaJr
— Sunil Dahiya (@Sunil_S_Dahiya) April 22, 2023
Strong defender of the #environment #India's ecological security & those dependent on it in the courts of law. Their organisation @lifeindia2016 won the presitigous Right Livelihood Award
Fight for a clean envt,protecting #forest #wildlife is patriotic
with you, my friend https://t.co/YBB9Ldze3u— prerna singh bindra 🐘🐅🐾 (@prernabindra) April 22, 2023
Received funds but no litigation in EJ’s name
The FIR against Dutta’s LIFE states that an agreement between the organisation and EJ in 2020-21 showed that the latter funded LIFE for “litigation in Indian Courts”, more in the form of “grants to litigate” but “not in EJ’s name”.
The FIR further says that ECF is routing $120,000 via EJ to LIFE for litigation. Although it’s unclear what ECF is, the FIR says it’s “most likely European Climate”.
“The cases on which LIFE was the litigant, were actually funded by EJ or ECF, both of which were not litigants,” the FIR says.
The FIR also said that Earthjustice does not appear to have any presence in India.
“A professional consultancy given by Ritwick Dutta is just a structure to bring funds in India to carry out litigation activities, thereby, impacting the public interest,” the FIR says, adding that employees of LIFE Trust were not aware of cases in which Earthjustice was their client.
“They also appeared to be unaware whether Earthjustice was their client or customer,” an officer said.
It added that it appears that funds were received by Dutta in his proprietorship concern as part of “funding plan” rather than providing professional services.
“It is without any delivery of goods or services to Earthjustice,” the FIR says. “Earthjustice does not appear to have any business concern in India as per its website. The payments made by Earthjustice are in the garb of professional receipts to fund litigation activities in India”.
Transferred funds to NGO—a violation
According to the complaint, now part of the FIR, LIFE transferred foreign contributions to the NGOs in violation of the Act.
“The association is receiving and utilising FC for purposes other than that for which it is registered and the association is utilising funds for undesirable purposes,” the FIR says. “It has been also intimated that the activities of the association are likely to affect prejudicially the economic security of the state which is a violation of the Act,” it adds.
According to the CBI, the matter is under investigation and if during investigation violations of other specific statutes like The Income Tax Act, The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, come to notice, the agency will send suitable references to the competent authorities for a follow up action. The FIR claims that the contribution received by LIFE under FCRA is for “social” purposes but is being utilised for Environmental Research Work, which is a deviation from FCRA rules.
To this, Dutta said: “All cases are done in my personal capacity as an advocate,” Dutta said, adding: “Right to livelihood, clean air, and water are also essential parts of development”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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