New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that money from the PM Cares Fund cannot be transferred to the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). Hearing a petition by an NGO called Centre for Public Interest Litigation, seeking transfer of all funds collected under the PM CARES to NDRF, the top court said that these are entirely different funds of charitable trusts. However, the court also said that the government was free to transfer money to the NDRF. The plea filed by the NGO alleged that PM CARES fund violated the Disaster Management Act.
A three-judge bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah also said that the current plan under the National Disaster Management Act is enough to deal with the coronavirus crisis. The court delivered the verdict in a virtual hearing.
On March 28, 2020, the Narendra Modi Government announced PM CARES (Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations) Fund to deal with coronavirus emergency. However, there have been several controversies surrounding the PM CARES. The government has already denied audit of the PM CARES fund, inviting criticism from the Opposition over "lack of transparency".
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The Opposition Congress also questioned the need for setting up PM CARES Fund when a similar Prime Minister's National Relief Fund was already there. Following the Supreme Court's order, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said that Supreme Court's order upholding the validity of PM CARES Fund will send out a loud and clear msg.
"Supreme Court of India upholds the validity of #PMCaresFund. Refuses to instruct government to transfer fund to NDRF. Hope that should send out a message... loud and clear," Singh tweeted soon after the verdict.