PIL In Delhi High Court Seeks To Bring PM CARES Fund Under RTI

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition was filed before the Delhi High Court seeking a direction for more transparency from the trustees of the PM CARES Fund by way of displaying on the Trust's website, details of the money received by it and the purposes of utilisation. The Delhi High Court posted the matter for further hearing on June 10, 2020.

The petition was filed after a response from the PMO to an RTI application stating that PM CARES Fund is not a public authority under section 2(h) of the RTI act, 2005. The PIL contended that since the PM CARES Fund is controlled and substantially financed by the government, it qualifies as a public authority under RTI.

The petition further pointed out that PM cares fund is headed by the Prime Minister in the capacity of its ex-officio chairman, while the Union Defence Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister are ex-officio trustees of the fund. All of them together have the power to appoint three additional trustees, it mentioned.

The PIL further points out that the corpus of Rs.10,000 crore has been generated mostly out of donations made by public sector undertakings, central ministries and departments, as also salaries of civil servants, personnel of the Armed Forces and members of judicial bodies. Therefore, citing a Supreme Court judgement in a 2004 case, the petition contends that PM CARES Fund is a public authority. The PIL adds that the victims of the coronavirus pandemic have a right to know with regard to the amount of fund collected and how it was being utilised.