The PM Cares Fund is a voluntary fund registered as a public charitable trust necessitated due to the emergent situation borne out of COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday, ruling that it is not open for the petitioner to question the government on the wisdom to create PM Cares Fund.
Since it is a public charitable trust with voluntary donations and does not receive any government support, no the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) audit is required.
Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that he is not questioning the bona fides of the constitution of the PM-CARES fund, but his submission was that the NDRF is audited by the CAG but the PM-CARES fund is not, rather the audit is done by a private chartered accountant.
A bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah replied, “the guidelines issued under the Act of 2005 (Disaster Management Act) with regard to NDRF specifically provides for the audit of NDRF by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, whereas for public charitable trust there is no occasion for CAG audit.”
The bench noted that the contributions made by individuals and institutions in the PM-CARES fund are to be released for public purposes to fulfil the objective of the trust.
The PM-CARES fund is a charitable trust registered under the Registration Act, 1908 at New Delhi on March 27.
“The PM-CARES fund is a public charitable trust and is not a government fund. The trust does not receive any budgetary support or any government money. It is not open for the petitioner (CPIL) to question the wisdom of the trustees to create the PM-CARES fund, which was constituted with an objective to extend assistance in the wake of a public health emergency, that is COVID-19 pandemic,” the court observed.
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