New Delhi: The Karnataka high court on Tuesday noted that an inquiry might be necessary to ascertain whether or not Isha Foundation projected its ‘Cauvery Calling’ initiative as a state government project to mobilise funds from people, Bar & Bench has reported.
Isha Outreach, a wing of the foundation which oversees the initiative, submitted to the court that the said initiative is its own, and there was no attempt to project it as a project of the Karnataka government.
The court has taken cognisance of the issue in a suo motu manner, removing the petitioner after a Bangalore-based lawyer in an email threatened Discovery TV channel of contempt of court action if it had aired a documentary on ‘Cauvery Calling’ project when his petition was pending adjudication before the court, The Hindu has reported.
The counsel representing Isha Outreach told the court on Tuesday that it had put out a clarification on its website that it is not a government initiative. The clarification, as quoted by Bar & Bench, read as follows:
“The Cauvery Calling project is an initiative by Isha Outreach. It is not a project by the Government of Karnataka. It is also clarified that the saplings planted as a part of the Cauvery Calling project are planted in the lands belonging to farmers and not in Government lands.”
However, the division bench of Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S.S. Magadum said that the court is not satisfied with the clarification, as it needs to visible in a prominent way. “See how it is published on the website. It must be more prominent,” the division bench noted.
The petition further alleged that the Karnataka government was allowing Isha Foundation to plant saplings on government lands without studying the pros and cons of a private project. To this, Isha Outreach counsel responded that the saplings were being planted only on lands belonging to farmers, but not in government lands.
Describing the act of collection of money from the public as “disturbing”, the petition stated that the foundation was collecting a massive Rs 10, 626 crore as a donation.
The counsel appearing for the state government said a public notice would be issued in newspapers on February 24, Wednesday, to clarify that it was not a government project. The government counsel also sought time to place on record its stand regarding the Cauvery Calling project. The next hearing is scheduled for March 8.
During the previous hearing, the court had observed inconsistencies in the statement of objects and suggested to the additional government advocate that a clarification be issued on whether the state government was involved in the project in any way, according to the New Indian Express.
The petition claimed that the foundation is planning to plant 253 crore tree saplings across the 639 kilometre stretch of the Cauvery river bank from its birthplace Talacauvery to Thiruvarur. The Foundation is said to be collecting Rs 42 per sapling from the public. All in all, the Foundation would be collecting Rs 10, 626 crore, which the petition described as a “major scam”, according to a report carried by