Plea in HC seeks to bring PMCares fund under RTI
A plea was filed in the Delhi high court on Thursday seeking direction to the PM Cares Fund to divulge information, including details of the money received and utilised, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act as it is a public authority. The petition was mentioned for urgent hearing through the web link and it has been listed on June 10, petitioner-advocate Surender Singh Hooda said.
The creation of the fund was announced by PM Modi on March 28 and he had urged all Indians to donate to the fund to help the country fight Covid, the petition said. After two months, the total corpus of the fund stands at approximately `10,000 crore and the amount has been collected upon the strength of the prestige lent by the office of the PM, it said.
The plea referred to the reports published in newspapers on May 31 that the PM Cares fund has refused to divulge information sought by one Harsha Kundakarni under the RTI Act, 2005 by claiming that the fund is not a ‘public authority’ within the ambit of Act.
“Therefore, the petitioner’s or anybody else’s application would also meet the same fate and hence the exercise of exhausting the remedy by filing another application and then filing an appeal before the statutory authority may be dispensed within the interest of justice,” it said.
“The reluctance of the trustees of the fund in divulging information as to the management of the fundraises a profoundly serious apprehension since the fund has been set up to fight Covid-19, which is a public cause. It is further unfathomable as to why such secrecy is desired when the website of the fund clearly states that all persons engaged in the management of the fund are working on a pro bono capacity and shall have no personal interest in the fund,” it submitted.