PM CARES Fund, HC reserves verdict

The petition sought a direction to the government to declare receipt and expenditure of funds periodically

The Bombay high court’s Nagpur bench on Thursday reserved its verdict on a public interest litigation demanding appointment of three trustees, including two from opposition parties, to manage Prime Minister’s Citizens Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund.

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The petitioner, lawyer Arvind Waghmare, has also sought removal of private auditing firm M/s SAARC Associates since public money is involved in the fund. According to him, the appointment of an auditor before filling up vacant seats of three trustees is illegal and, therefore, should be cancelled. He amended his petition in the wake of the Supreme Court’s order on Tuesday dismissing a plea seeking the transfer of money collected by the PM Cares Fund to the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF).

In his petition, Waghmare has sought a direction to the government to declare funds received and expenditure of the same on a government’s website periodically.

A division bench of the high court reserved the verdict after a hearing that lasted for more than one-and-a-half hours and witnessed sharp exchanges between the petitioner and the respondents.

Additional solicitor general of India Anil Singh opposed the petition. He called it politically motivated while doubting the intentions of the petition. He maintained total transparency has been maintained in the fund.

The petitioner said three trustees have not been appointed till date despite clear guidelines even as crores were being accepted. Being a donor to this fund, he insisted on the appointment of other trustees for “fortifying confidence of the general public”.

This is not a personal fund of any political party, said Waghmare while seeking appointment of leaders belonging to opposition parties to make the working of fund more transparent and inclusive.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench on Tuesday held the establishment of PM Cares Fund was necessitated by the situation borne out of Covid-19 pandemic and requirement of financial resources to deal it. It added the court cannot object to the same.

The Centre set up the PM Cares Fund 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.