Chennai, Nov 21 (DHNS): The Madras High Court on Friday stayed Tamil Nadu government’s order cancelling Greenpeace India’s registration, observing that the Tamil Nadu Registrar of Societies (RoS) had not followed the principles of natural justice.

When the petition came up for hearing Justice M M Sundresh ordered unconditional stay.

The RoS in its recent order said that Greenpeace received crores of rupees from foreign countries and there were discrepancies in the account submitted to the Centre and the annual reports submitted to the society.

Immediately, the environmental group moved the Madras High Court against RoS order.

This is the sixth time in the last year and a half that Greenpeace and its activists have succeeded against multiple attempts to restrict its operations and funding, as well as to shut down its operations.

“We were confident the courts would agree that Greenpeace is on sound legal footing and has done nothing wrong, notwithstanding the government’s allegations of fraud in this instance. Our accounts are an open book and on our website for all to inspect,” Priya Pillai, senior campaigner, of Greenpeace India told Deccan Herald.

Stating that instead of fighting and winning legal battles, Priya said, “we would much rather continue to contribute to solve India’s serious development challenges — air pollution, disappearing forests, the need for safe food and clean electricity for all.”

Greenpeace India Society’s Advocate, Vineet Subramani said that there were no conditions attached to the High Court order.

Despite the challenges, Greenpeace is working towards clean air, clean water and clean energy. It recently launched a free Android-based mobile application that alerts citizens to take precaution against dangerous levels of air pollution across the country. The group also supported the government’s solar energy targets besides speaking against US government’s appeal against India’s domestic solar policy at the World Trade Organisation.