The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking the transfer of money in PM CARES Funds to the National Disaster Relief Fund.
The Apex Court said that a fresh national disaster plan for COVID-19 is not needed and observed that funds collected in the PM CARES fund are meant for charitable trust.
The petition was filed by an NGO named Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) that sought a direction to the Centre to transfer the funds of PM Cares Fund to the NDRF. On June 17, the SC had asked the Centre to file its response on the plea.
The Prime Minister is the ex-officio chairman of the fund and the defence, home and finance ministers are ex-officio trustees.
Opposition parties have questioned the need to create the reserve when the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund is already in existence. They have also expressed doubts about the fund’s transparency.
Last month, the Centre told the top court that the PM Cares Fund is a “public charitable trust” to which anyone can contribute, adding that it is a “misconception” that contributions received by a public trust like this can be transferred to a statutory fund like the NDRF. It added that funds to the NDRF and the State Disaster Response Fund were made available through budgetary allocations.
However, Dave had argued that PM CARES is not subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General but by private auditors. He said it is not under “public scrutiny” and contributions to it are “100% tax free”.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal said corporate social responsibility or CSR benefits are given to the PM CARES Fund, and they are denied to the state disaster relief funds.
The bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy, and MR Shah said that no institution and individual can be prohibited to make contributions to the PM CARES Fund. The court clarified that the Centre will be free to transfer funds to NDRF as it deems appropriate.
“There is no statutory prohibition on contributions made to NDRF and the contributions to PM Cares fund are voluntary. Funds collected by the PM Cares fund are entirely different and these funds are funds of charitable trust. Thus, funds need not be transferred,” the Supreme Court said.
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