E-Paper
Plea to transfer PM-CARES fund to NDRF: Supreme Court notice to Centre
The NDRF is a fund created by the central government under section 46 of the Disaster Management Act (DM Act) for dealing with disasters.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Union home ministry on a plea by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), a non-government organisation, seeking transfer of all contributions made to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM Cares) Fund, formed after the outbreak of Covid-19, till date to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
The NDRF is a fund created by the central government under section 46 of the Disaster Management Act (DM Act) for dealing with disasters.
The PM Cares Fund, the petition claimed has been set up in violation of the legal mandate under the Disaster Management Act of 2005 as per which any grant made by any person or institution for the purpose of disaster management should be compulsorily credited to NDRF.
“However, currently, NDRF is not being utilized in fighting the ongoing Covid-19 and a PM-CARES Fund has been constituted instead, outside the purview and ambit of DM Act, as a public charitable trust and ail the contributions/ donations with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic are being made to the said fund in violation of clear statutory provisions”, the petition stated.
The petitioner also prayed that a national plan should be drawn up for disaster management for the whole of the country as mandated by section 11 of the DM Act.
“Section 11 of the DM Act makes it mandatory for a national plan to be drawn up for disaster management for whole of the country but currently, there is no such national plan in place to deal with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic even though the same has been notified as a ‘disaster’ and numerous notifications are being issued to contain the same under the DM Act”, the petitioner pointed out.
“The central government has overruled the mandate under the DM Act. We will show it”, senior counsel Dushyant Dave, who appeared for CPIL, submitted.
A bench headed by justice Ashok Bhushan sought the Centre’s response despite solicitor general Tushar Mehta arguing against it.
“We have read the petition. We will issue notice. Let reply be filed in four weeks”, the bench, which also comprised justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MR Shah, said and listed the case for hearing next on July 8. The case will be heard along with the suo motu case initiated by the top court on May 26 to address the plight of migrant labourers.
The PM Cares Fund was set up by the central government on March 28 as a public charitable trust with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation such as that posed by Covid-19 pandemic.
The petitioner pointed out that two weeks before setting up PM Cares Fund, the central government had, on March 14, communicated to all states that Covid-19 would be treated as a notified disaster for the purpose of providing assistance under state disaster response fund (SDRF), a fund similar to NDRF and set up under the Disaster Management Act at the state level.
The petitioner said that apart from SDRF, the Central Government should have included NDRF too for the purpose of providing assistance in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, which it decided to treat as a notified disaster. It wasn’t done so that the central government could later create the PM Cares Fund.
“lt is to be noted that PM Cares is not subject to mandatory CAG audit and according to a recent RTI reply, dated May 29, PM Cares Fund doesn’t come under the RTI Act, 2005 either”, the petition submitted. CAG is short for the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. RTI is short for the Right To Information Act.
The Centre has been refraining from disclosing information about the specific utilization of the money that has been contributed/donated to the PM Cares Fund till date, the plea said.
“Even though there is a provision for NDRF under Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, the central government has come up with a PM Cares Fund. All the contribution being made by individuals and institutions in relation to Covid-19 crisis are being credited into the PM Cares Fund and not to the NDRF, in clear violation of Section 46 of the DM Act”, the petition added.
Earlier, the Rajasthan government had approached Supreme Court against excluding contributions made towards the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) meant for Covid-19 mitigation from the purview of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities while allowing contributions made to the PM Cares Fund as CSR funds, stating that it is irrational.
The Supreme Court had issued notice in that case on Tuesday.
“To allow the PM Cares Fund for Covid-19 as CSR but to exclude the CMRF for the very same purpose is creating a distinction without a difference. This is gross infraction of Art. 14 of Constitution of India”, the Rajasthan government had submitted.
