Bharti to offer legal aid to underprivileged undertrials

Sunil Mittal to take voluntary cut of Rs 5 cr from annual salary

It was a thought that triggered in the mind of Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Enterprises, during his visits to the Patiala House court in 2013 when summoned in relation to the 2G spectrum allocation case. "I have seen from close quarters the difficulties so many poor, underprivileged feel due to lack of timely legal advice and help," said Mittal, while announcing Bharti Enterprises' initiative to provide legal and financial assistance to underprivileged undertrials languishing in jails across the country for minor offences.

"When you go through life changing experiences like that, you do feel privileged to have the best legal counsels," Mittal said of his own experience in the courts. Nyaya Bharti, to be administered by Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, would kick-start operations in National Capital Region and Punjab in April 2016 with an annual grant of Rs 10 crore. Mittal would contribute Rs 5 crore from his annual remuneration, while the rest would come from Bharti Airtel as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) spend. Mittal drew a salary of Rs 27.17 crore in 2014-15, as per an agency report. The initiative will focus on criminal cases in the district courts involving first-time offenders.

Mittal said the first-of-its-kind initiative by an Indian corporate house has the potential to change the fortunes of many families who could not pay Rs 5,000 or Rs 10,000 in surety amount or bail. As per data from National Crime Records Bureau, there are 280,000 undertrials in 1,387 jails across the country - one of the highest proportions in the world.

Mittal said the initiative is part of Prime Minister's vision of 'Sabka Nyaya' - of giving access to justice for all. A board consisting of eminent persons, led by retired chief justice A S Anand, will provide guidance. This will be Bharti Foundation's third initiative in the CSR space after Satya Bharti School programme, and Satya Bharti Abhiyan that involves constructing 30,000 toilets across Ludhiana district in Punjab.

The Nyaya Bharti initiative would also give a leg-up to Bharti Airtel's lagging CSR spends. In FY15, Bharti Airtel spent Rs 41.1 crore on CSR initiatives - barely 0.6 per cent of its net profit. As per Companies Act, 2013, corporates with over Rs 500 crore of turnover are supposed to spend a minimum of two per cent of their net profit on social responsibilities activities. Mittal told Business Standard that Bharti Airtel is expected to meet its two per cent CSR spend obligation by FY17. "We are likely to be around the one per cent mark in the current financial year," he added. Bharti Foundation currently has an annual budget of around Rs 100 crore, expected to go up to Rs 140-150 crore in the coming years. A vast majority of the country's top blue-chip companies have failed to meet their CSR obligations in FY15.

The initiative will focus on Delhi-NCR and Punjab initially and will gradually expand presence to cover the entire northern India through smaller regional offices. It will seek partnerships with like-minded corporates to have similar initiatives in the other parts of the country.