Earlier, a division of the Allahabad High Court dismissed a petition challenging the validity of the PM CARES Fund on August 31, 2020
UPDATE – Sun 05/21/23 09:48 AM
Prayer meeting: The Allahabad High Court has issued notices to the Center and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) while hearing a review petition challenging the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) and the Prime Minister’s Citizens’ Assistance and Relief Fund in Emergency Situations (PM CARES ) of the Constitutional Effectiveness Fund).
Petition to review calls to declare PM CARES Fund and PMNRF unconstitutional as there is already the Disaster Management Act 2005 and the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) which is formed by the central government and is a statutory fund under the 2005 -19 such crises.
“When the central government has established a statutory public trust, the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF), the PMNRF loses its utility, necessity and effectiveness and becomes useless and redundant due to conflicting interests with the government. NDRF, ’ pleaded the petitioner.
Hearing a petition for review filed by Divisional Judge Divya Pal Singh, comprising Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh, directed the case to be scheduled for the next hearing in the last week of July.
Earlier, a division of the High Court dismissed Singh’s petition on August 31, 2020 challenging the validity of the PM CARES fund.
A petition has since been filed with the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s judgment of 31 August.
The Supreme Court required the petitioner to first apply to the High Court by filing an application for review, further allowing him to apply again to the Supreme Court if he is dissatisfied with the High Court’s review order.
The petitioners seek to declare that the PM CARES Fund is legally unsustainable because “substantial public funds have been secretly poured into the bank accounts of the PM CARES Fund, which is inherently opaque, opaque, and irresponsible.”
Additionally, the petition alleges, it is outside the purview of the RTI Act, has not been audited by CAG, and is completely hidden from public view and scrutiny.
“The public is completely unaware of the untold amounts of money that are secretly, unauthorized, and illegally poured into the PM CARES Fund every day, where and how it is used/spent.
Beyond that, nowhere is there data or evidence of voluntary donations, which may be as varied as involuntary donations,” the petition said.
The petitioner also requests that the central government’s collection of the PMNRF and PM CARES Fund as a public trust fund be treated as a collection of the central government’s NDRF established under the 2005 Act, so that the funds received should be transferred/credited for purposes of Authorized by the 2005 Act, fair access under public scanners and under existing efficient and effective statutory procedures.
It seeks that the High Court may direct the central government to fully disclose details of PM CARES Fund accounts, activities and expenditures to the general public, ideally by posting the details on a government website for all to see and with accounts regularly updated.
In addition, the petitioners ask the Court to direct the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) of India to conduct an audit of the PM CARES Fund in the interest of justice and the general public.
