PM CARES Fund not government fund; functions with transparency: Delhi HC told

The PM CARES Fund is not a Government of India fund and the amount collected by it does not go to the Consolidated Fund of India the Delhi High Court has been informedAn affidavit filed by an Under Secretary at the Prime Ministers Office PMO who is discharging his functions in the PM Cares Trust on honorary basis has said the trust functions with transparency and its funds are audited by an auditor a chartered accountant drawn from the panel prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General of IndiaThe affidavit was filed in response to a petition seeking a direction to declare the PM CARES Fund a State under the Constitution to ensure transparency in its functioningA bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Amit Bansal has fixed the matter for further hearing on September 27To ensure transparency the audited report is put on the official website of the trust along with the details of utilisation of funds received by the trustiquest says the affidavit filed by Pradeep Kumar Srivastava Under Secretary at the PMOI state that when the petitioner is claiming to be a publicspirited person and seeking to pray for various reliefs only for transparency it does not matter whether PM Cares is a State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of Indiaiquest the officer said in the affidavitAlso read PM Cares Fund ventilators faulty says Maharashtra hospital reportIrrespective of whether the trust is a State or other authority within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution or whether it is a public authority within the meaning of provisions of the Right to Information Act RTI it is not permissible to disclose third party information It said that all donations received by the trust are received via online payments cheques or Demand Drafts and the amount received is audited with the audited report and the expenditure of trust fund displayed on the websiteThe trust functions on the principles of transparency and public good in larger public interest like any other charitable trust and therefore cannot have any objection in uploading all its resolutions on its website to ensure transparency it said while reiterating that the trusts fund is not a fund of Government of India and the amount does not go in the Consolidated Fund of IndiaThe officer said he is discharging his functions in the PM Cares Trust on honorary basis which is a charitable trust not created by or under the Constitution or by any law made by the Parliament or by any State legislatureDespite being an officer of the Central government I am permitted to discharge my functions in PM Care Trust on an honorary basis he saidThe court was hearing a petition filed by Samyak Gangwal who has said that the PM CARES Fund is a State as it was formed by the Prime Minister on March 27 2020 to extend assistance to the citizens of India in the wake of the public health emergency the ongoing COVID19 PandemicHis counsel had told the court that if it is found that the PM CARES Fund is not State under the Constitution usage of the domain name gov the Prime Ministers photograph state emblem etc has to be stoppedThe petition said that the Trustees of the fund are the Prime Minister Defence Minister Home Minister and the Finance Minister and immediately after the formation of the fund the Centre through its high government functionaries represented that the fund was set up and operated by the Government of IndiaTo ensure transparency and accountability the plea has sought a direction for periodic auditing of PM CARES website and disclosure of the details of donations received by itIn his alterative prayers Gangwal has sought to direct the Centre to publicise that the PM CARES Fund is not a fund of the Government of India and to restrain PM CARES from using Prime Minister of India or Prime Minister including its abbreviations its name on its website Trust Deed and other official or unofficial communications and advertisementsOn March 9 the court had said it was not inclined to issue notice on the plea as the Centre was already represented through counsel who may file their written submissionsThe petitioner has also filed another petition to declare PM CARES as a public authority under the Right to Information RTI Act which is being heard together with the first pleaThis petition challenges a June 2 2020 order of the Central Public Information Officer CPIO PMO refusing to provide documents sought by him on the ground that PM Cares Fund is not a public authority under the RTI ActSolicitor General Tushar Mehta who represented PMO had opposed the petition stating that it was not maintainable and that he would file a response explaining why it should not be entertainedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the 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