Bombay high court seeks details of utilisation of CM’s relief fund for past 8 years

The court also directed the government to produce the tax exemption application and postponed the PIL for further hearing after two weeks.

The Bombay high court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government to file an affidavit detailing the utilisation of the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund from the year 2008-09 onwards.

The court also directed the government to submit for its perusal the application submitted by it to the Income Tax Authority under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act. (HT file photo)

The court also directed the government to submit for its perusal the application submitted by it to the Income Tax Authority under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT), founded by prominent citizens like B G Deshmukh and Julio Ribeiro. The organisation approached the HC in 2009, contending that the funds collected under the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund have not been utilised for the requisite purpose.

The organisation said in its petition that the funds were meant to provide help to persons affected by natural calamities like floods and drought, but was being diverted to purposes which are alien to the concept of natural calamities.

On Thursday, when the PIL came up for hearing, the organisation’s lawyer, advocate Soma Singh, submitted that in August 2009 the government was directed to produce the application submitted to the Income Tax authority for tax exemption under section 80-G of the Income Tax Act, but the application has not yet been submitted to the court.