This Article is From Jan 19, 2019

Government Files FIR Against Non-Profit That Organised Bravery Awards

Women and Child Development Ministry registered an FIR against non-profit Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) for financial fraud.

Government Files FIR Against Non-Profit That Organised Bravery Awards

The Bravery award winners of 2018, which were earlier organised by non-profit ICCW.

New Delhi:

The Women and Child Development Ministry has filed a First information Report (FIR) against the non-profit Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) for misusing government-allocated funds and failing to refund the unspent balance, it said on Friday.

Earlier, following a writ petition in the Delhi High Court which alleged that the non-profit had been violating the rules for utilising government funds, a three-member committee under the Women and Child Development Ministry was formed to determine if the funds were "siphoned off or misutilised".

The ministry observed "that there has been a systemic failure as far as checks and balances regarding utilization of the funds provided by the government is concerned".

Following this, the court ordered that it would consider if further investigation was necessary or any other proceedings are required to be initiated against the non-profit.

"Pursuant to the Delhi court's directions, an internal committee was constituted and it was ascertained that ICCW has not refunded the unspent balance of Rs 30,914,051 for the years (2014-16) available with its state councils," the ministry said in a statement.

The Bravery awards were earlier organised by ICCW. However, following the petition, the Centre dissociated itself from it and revamped the scheme of National Awards for children in 2018 to include Bravery as an additional component in the Pradhan Mantri National Children Awards.

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