No need to audit PM CARES: SC Fund
What is PM CARES
The Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund was created on 28 March 2020, following the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The fund will be used for combating, and containment and relief efforts against the coronavirus outbreak and similar pandemic like situations in the future
The Supreme Court on Tuesday endorsed the PM CARES Fund as a “public charitable trust” to which donors contribute voluntarily. There is “no occasion” for the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to audit a public charitable trust independent of budgetary support or government money.
The court said that it is “not open” for a PIL petitioner to question the “wisdom” that created the fund in an hour of need. “At this need of the hour no exception can be taken to the constitution of a public charitable trust, namely, PM CARES Fund,” a Bench, led by Justice Ashok Bhushan, observed in a 75page judgment.
‘No public scrutiny’ NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, had argued that the PMCARES Fund was not subject to CAG audit. It was not under “public scrutiny”. Contributions to it were “100% taxfree”. The court dismissed the idea that the PM CARES was constituted to “circumvent” the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) — the statutory fund already in existence under the Disaster Management Act of 2005 to receive contributions to fi nance the fight against a ca
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