Was PM Cares Fund established by an order made by the Government?
30 May, 2020Harsha Kandukuri, a student of LLM in Azim Premji University at Bengaluru, had filed an RTI application on April 1, seeking details about the constitution of the PM CARES FUND (Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund). The applicant had asked for copies of the fund’s trust deed and all government orders related to its creation and functioning.
The Public Information Officer (PIO) of PMO replied on May 29 that, “PM CARES Fund is not a public authority under the ambit of Section 2(h) “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; of the RTI Act, 2005. However, relevant information in respect of PM CARES Fund may be seen on the website pmcares.gov.in ”
As per Section 2(h) “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; of the RTI Act, "public authority" means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted,
(a) by or under the Constitution;
(b) by any other law made by Parliament;
(c) by any other law made by State Legislature;
(d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government and includes any—
- body owned, controlled or substantially financed;
- non-Government organisation substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government;
Earlier, in response to an RTI application filed by one Vikrant Tongad, the PMO had replied, “It is not open to the applicant under the RTI Act to bundle a series of requests into one application unless these requests are treated separately and paid for accordingly”.
The PM CARES Fund was created earlier this year on 28 March with the primary objective of “dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like posed by the COVID-19 pandemic” and has been criticised by the opposition and media for lack of transparency. The Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of the Fund and Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance, Government of India are its ex-officio Trustees. As the PM Cares Fund is a charitable organisation being based on donations of individuals and organisations, the CAG has probably no right to audit it.
If the PM Cares Fund was established by an order made by the Government with Ministers and PM as the members, should it not be declared as a public authority? Who will scrutinise the donations received and expenditure made by the PM Cares Fund?
SM Bhatnagar