PM CARES Fund: Order reserved

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order on a plea seeking a direction that the funds received by the PM CARES Fund be credited to the National Disaster Response Fund for tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.

A bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah took note of the plea by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, headed by advocate

Prashant Bhushan, seeking drawing up of a national Covid plan and raising the issue of existence of PMCARES Fund while a NDRF was already in existence under the Disaster Management Act.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the petitioner, argued PMCARES Fund lacks transparency. He questioned why there is no national plan during the time of Covid.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing an NGO, argued before the bench on the issues originating in the absence of a national plan to tackle Covid-19 pandemic. Sibal cited the Constitution's ection 21 regarding a district plan, where minimum requirements regarding water, shelter etc. need to be provided. "Where are these standards?" he asked.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, argued the National Disaster Management Plan, from 2019, included biological disaster, as during that time, no one knew about Covid-19. He said Sibal's argument was "factually wrong".

The Centre had informed the apex court there are funds which are either established earlier or now for carrying out various relief works, and PM CARES is one such with voluntary donations.