Goodwill home never sought govt licence

HYDERABAD: The Goodwill Children’s Village Home which hit the headlines after the alleged sexual abuse of a minor girl at the hands of the Home founder, Rajasekhar Babu, had never applied for recognition from the directorate of women and child welfare.
Sources said that in April, 2001, the government issued an order stating that all voluntary organisations which work for the betterment of women or children must register with the directorate.
“We never received any application from Goodwill Children’s Village Home,� an officer said. The directorate has already sent a note to the government stating that it had not recognised the Home, the officer said. The order was issued following allegations of irregularities in the functioning of many such organisations. The directorate had issued advertisements in newspapers warning NGOs that those of them that do not apply for recognition would have to close down. “If such organisations don’t respond now, we will soon start taking action,� the officer said. Recognition is granted to NGOs only after it submits registration papers apart from a clearance from the local police station. Most organisations which have a dubious record thrive on private funds and do not register. “They decide to forego government grants as they do not want to figure in any of our records,� the officer said.
“These organisations are funded by miscellaneous trusts, many of which are based abroad.We are supposed to coordinate only with institutions which use government grants and not empowered to deal with private funds. So, these organisations raise funds from whomever they choose to, after presenting fabricated documents about their projects to the sponsors,� he said.