Muslim Orphanages Concealing Data of Foreign Funds to Receive Grants from State Government: Reports

More mysterious turns in the startling case of child trafficking which shook Kerala society has revealed that the management of the concerned orphanage at Mukkam and Manassery has fraudulently obtained grant from Kerala government in 2012- 2013. Reports state that this has been done with false claims of not having received foreign grant. However, documents prove that the orphanage has received a sum of Rs 800783 from the UAE.

Reports state that an FC-6 return was submitted to the FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) Wing of Foreigners Division, which comes under Ministry of Home Affairs. The report, by New Indian Express states that the orphanage had received a sum of Rs. 8,00,783 for the ‘welfare of the orphans’ from a donor named Red Crescent, which is based in UAE, in the 2012-13 fiscal. In spite of this, the orphanage is said to have “claimed a grant-in-aid of Rs. 28,55,470 from the state government by giving a false certificate that the “institution had not received any financial assistance from foreign sources”.

According to the report, “In the same fiscal, the Markaz (Markazu Saquafathi Sunniyya) of Kanthapuram, AP Abubacker Musaliyar received a sum of Rs. 2.4 crore as foreign contribution. However, the management also claimed a grant-in-aid of Rs. 13,90,251 from the state government for its orphanages concealing the foreign aid.”

Stating that the recent expose is just a “tip of the ice-berg”, the report says that majority of the orphanages in Kozhikode, around 65 of them, which includes “Al-Islah Orphanage, Kodiyathur of Islahiya Association and MES (Muslim Educational Society) Orphanage, Feroke” are quite indulgent in similar malpractices.

The president of Islahiya Association is O Abdul Rahman, a Jamaat-e-Islami activist, while Dr PA Fazal Gafoor heads the MES Orphanage. The report states that their sources confirm “over Rs 2 crore grant-in-aid from state government” towards these orphanages.

A return statement from FC-6 in 2011-12 shows MMO management having “received an amount of Rs. 40,00,000 from the Oman-based Galfar Group” ,which has reportedly been concealed from the Social Justice Department while seeking grant-in-aid.

The data given to FCRA states that Markaz is said to have received a sum of Rs. 2.4 crore from Arab countries like Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE and other South East Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia and Rs 13 crore from United Kingdom. Out of this, only Rs. 34,65,179 was spent “for the purpose of welfare of the orphans.

In 2012-13, Rs. 2.3 crore was received by Islahiya Association’s Al Islah Orphanage from Kuwait and Qatar, along with a government aid of Rs. 6.4 lakh.

The report also states that “Muslim Education Society, Kozhikode, received foreign contributions worth Rs. 91,89,092 in 2012-13 fiscal from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia” out of which only Rs. 87,29,262 was used towards the orphanage.

The story is almost similar in the case of MES Orphanage, Feroke, where a grant-in-aid of 1,66,877 has been received from the state government, after concealing foreign aid.

The set of laws laid down by ‘Kerala Grant-in-aid Rules’ clearly observe that payment of “Boarding Grants to Orphanages and Boarding Homes for Destitute Children and institutions” which receive “financial assistance from sources abroad shall furnish along with the application for grant-in-aid a certificate showing the details of such assistance received or receivable and its utilization”. In cases where there is no assistance, a certificate vouching for the same must be provided, says the report. 

Based on TNIE report -  Orphanages Fudge Data to Get Govt Grant