SC turns down PM Cares transfer to disaster fund

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to order the transfer of money collected by the PM Cares Fund to the National Disaster Relief Fund, rejecting a plea by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation that sought this.

The court’s verdict was welcomed by the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party and criticised by the Congress.

A three-judge bench headed by justice Ashok Bhushan held that the establishment of PM Cares Fund was necessitated by the emergent situation borne out of Covid-19 and requirement of financial resources to deal with the pandemic, and that the court cannot object to the same.

“It is not open for the petitioner to question the wisdom to create PM Cares fund which was constituted with an objective to extend assistance in the wake of a public health emergency. At this hour no exception can be taken to the constitution of a public charitable trust, namely, PM Cares Fund ,”

the bench which also comprised justices R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah ruled.

The apex court said that the PM Cares Fund set up by the Central government in March in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic is a public charitable trust and a voluntary fund to which any individual or institution can make contributions, and since it does not receive budgetary support, it cannot be equated with a statutory fund like NDRF.

“The contribution by any person or by any institution in PM

Cares Fund is voluntary . The funds collected in the PM Cares Fund are funds of a public charitable trust and there is no occasion for issuing any direction to transfer the said funds to the NDRF,” the bench said. Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Transparency is writ large in Pm-cares Fund, both in terms of legal requirement and transparent management of funds received on a voluntary basis.” He added that the fund has been targeted in court unnecessarily.