Centre defends PM CARES, says existing funds don’t bar its creation

NEW DELHI: Creation of funds like the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) fund is not barred by the existence of other statutory funds like the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) under the Disaster Management Act of 2005, the central government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

In an affidavit filed before the top court, the Centre defended the PM CARES Fund, established in March after the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic stating that it was a fund established to carry out relief work and several such funds had been established on similar lines in the past.

“Mere existence of a statutory fund (NDRF) would not prohibit creation of a different fund like PM CARES Fund which provides for voluntary donations”, the affidavit said.

The Centre’s response came on a petition filed by the non-government organisation Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) seeking transfer of all contributions made to PM CARES Fund till date to the NDRF. The NDRF is a fund created by the central government for dealing with disasters. PM CARES was set up on March 28 as a public charitable trust with the objective of dealing with any kind of emergency such as that posed by Covid-19.

The petitioner pointed out that two weeks before setting up PM CARES, the Centre communicated to states that Covid-19 would be treated as a notified disaster for the purpose of providing assistance under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), a fund similar to NDRF.

THE RESPONSE CAME ON A PETITION FILED BY AN NGO SEEKING TRANSFER OF ALL CONTRIBUTIONS MADE TO PM CARES TILL DATE TO THE NDRF