The petition sought a direction that all present and future fund collections contributions and grants under the PM CARES Fund for the COVID-19 pandemic should be transferred to the National Disaster Response Fund.
New Delhi| The apex court on Tuesday said the money collected under the PM-Cares Fund for the coronavirus pandemic cannot be transferred to National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). The Sc also added that it cannot direct the government to do so and that funds collected by the PM Cares Fund are entirely different and that these are funds of charitable trusts. The top court also said that the government is free to transfer money to the disaster response fund if it feels appropriate to do so.
The court, as it heard a petition against the PM CARES fund by an NGO called Centre for Public Interest Litigation, said any contribution or grant can be credited to the NDRF and anyone can contribute to this fund as a voluntary contribution. The petition sought a direction that all present and future fund collections contributions and grants under the PM CARES Fund for the COVID-19 pandemic should be transferred to the National Disaster Response Fund. PM CARES fund violates the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, the petition said.
The Supreme Court also added that there is no need for a new plan and that one under the National Disaster Management Act is enough to deal with COVID-19.
On March 28, the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund was set up by the centre to deal with the emergency situation that had emerged due to coronavirus and provide relief to the people affected by the crisis. PM Modi is the ex-officio chairman of the fund and the defence, home and finance ministers are ex-officio trustees.
The verdict was delivered through video conferencing by the three-judges bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah.
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