Expense Estimates

The Corpus/Capital Base

We have set an initial target of Rs. 50 lakh funds collection. Please note that excess over expenses goes towards building up a corpus; the income from the corpus to be used for ongoing Trust activities. As Trust activities expand, the requirement may increase.

The break-up of Year 1 (April 2006 - March 2007) expense estimates are as follows:

The Case

Expenses on the case will primarily be legal fees and travel costs.

Legal fees: Fees and costs may average to about Rs. 7,000 per hearing. Typically there are 2 hearings a month. This is just at the sessions court stage. If the case (and this is very likely) goes for appeal to the High Court and Supreme Court, legal fees will be higher. We had earlier under estimated travel costs. We now find it is extremely necessary to have continued pressure on everybody involved and ongoing Trustee visits for each hearing are necessary. Current travel cost estimates are Rs. 2.56 lakh.

Note that the Trust now has an expense policy in place with upper limits for travel, stay, local conveyance etc.

Once the case is concluded, the trust will work with similar cases, giving help to people fighting to uphold the values of truth and honesty. The expense head of Case Costs will therefore be an ongoing one.

The award

Manjunath’s bravery and honesty went unrewarded while he lived. The trust will honour one person or organisation a year in his name, to encourage them in life. The award amount plus costs are estimated at Rs. 1.5 lakhs p.a.

RTI Act Helpline

The Helpline, with a vision of encouraging use of the RTI Act across India, ran for a year.A professional call center with trained executives offering multiple language support was hired. Six months later, Mphasis BPO offered a 50% subsidy, bringing down the cost to Rs. 70,000 p.m. After one year, a decision was taken that the cost-benefit did not justify continuation of the Helpline. We are planning instead, to use the funds towards lower cost, decentralised initiatives of local RTI activists.

Trust administration

While most of the costs are being absorbed by the managing trustees - we use our own office staff and infrastructure - yet, incidental costs would add up to about Rs. 3,000 p.m. or about Rs. 36,000 p.a.

Note :

1.There will be an independent audit of Trust accounts every year. The first one was completed for the FYE March 2007, and tax returns have been filed.

2. If the trust is wound up, per the IT Act, the funds cannot be given back to the donors; they need to be rolled over to another trust registered under the IT Act, having similar objectives.


The Corpus/Capital Base We have set an initial target of Rs. 50 lakh funds collection. Please note that excess over expenses goes towards building up a corpus; the income from the corpus to be used for ongoing Trust activities. As Trust activities expand, the requirement may increase. The break-up of Year 1 (April 2006 - March 2007) expense estimates are as follows: The Case Expenses on the case will primarily be legal fees and travel costs. Legal fees: Fees and costs may average to about Rs. 7,000 per hearing. Typically there are 2 hearings a month. This is just at the sessions court stage. If the case (and this is very likely) goes for appeal to the High Court and Supreme Court, legal fees will be higher. We had earlier under estimated travel costs. We now find it is extremely necessary to have continued pressure on everybody involved and ongoing Trustee visits for each hearing are necessary. Current travel cost estimates are Rs. 2.56 lakh. Note that the Trust now has an expense policy in place with upper limits for travel, stay, local conveyance etc. Once the case is concluded, the trust will work with similar cases, giving help to people fighting to uphold the values of truth and honesty. The expense head of Case Costs will therefore be an ongoing one. The award Manjunath’s bravery and honesty went unrewarded while he lived. The trust will honour one person or organisation a year in his name, to encourage them in life. The award amount plus costs are estimated at Rs. 1.5 lakhs p.a. RTI Act Helpline The Helpline, with a vision of encouraging use of the RTI Act across India, ran for a year.A professional call center with trained executives offering multiple language support was hired. Six months later, Mphasis BPO offered a 50% subsidy, bringing down the cost to Rs. 70,000 p.m. After one year, a decision was taken that the cost-benefit did not justify continuation of the Helpline. We are planning instead, to use the funds towards lower cost, decentralised initiatives of local RTI activists. Trust administration While most of the costs are being absorbed by the managing trustees - we use our own office staff and infrastructure - yet, incidental costs would add up to about Rs. 3,000 p.m. or about Rs. 36,000 p.a. Note : 1.There will be an independent audit of Trust accounts every year. The first one was completed for the FYE March 2007, and tax returns have been filed. 2. If the trust is wound up, per the IT Act, the funds cannot be given back to the donors; they need to be rolled over to another trust registered under the IT Act, having similar objectives.