The Supreme Court on Tuesday has rejected a petition seeking the transfer of money in PM CARES funds to National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). The SC said the funds collected in PM CARES fund are meant for charitable trust, adding that a new national disaster plan for coronavirus is not needed.
A three judge bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subash Reddy and MR Shah delivered the verdict today through video conferencing.
"There is no statutory prohibition on contributions made to NDRF and the contributions to PM CARES fund are voluntary. Funds collected by the PM CARES fund are entirely different and these funds are funds of charitable trust. Thus, funds need not be transferred," said the apex court.
The top court also clarified that the government is free to transfer money to NDRF as it deems appropriate.
The petition was filed by an NGO named 'Centre for Public Interest Litigation' (CPIL) seeking a direction that all the money collected under the PM CARES fund be transferred to NDRF. Opposition parties have also questioned the need to create the reserve when PM's National Relief Fund is already in existence.
Set up in March, Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund is a public charitable trust with the primary objective to deal with any kind of emergency situation like the currently posed Covid-19 pandemic and provide relief to the affected.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the chairperson of the trust and defence, home and finance ministers serve as trustees.
