By �Priyanka Saurabh��
Recently, the Supreme Court has said that there is no need for the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to conduct an audit of the PM-Cares Fund, as it is a public charitable trust. The Supreme Court stated that being a public charitable trust, “there is no opportunity for an audit of relief by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to the Prime Minister’s Civil Assistance and Emergency Situation Fund (PM-Care Fund)”. It also refused to transfer funds from the PM Cares Fund to the National Disaster Response Fund
The PM Cars Fund is a public charitable trust established in 2020 with the primary objective of dealing with any type of emergency caused by the COVID-19 epidemic. After Coronovirus was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28 March 2020 with the Prime Minister as trustee as its chairman and senior cabinet members. It is a dedicated national fund to deal with any type of emergency or crisis.
To deal with the conditions arising due to the spread of the Coronavirus and other health problems, the Prime Minister has created the Prime Minister’s Civil Assistance and Emergency Relief Fund ie PM Cares Fund. The Prime Minister appealed to the citizens and corporate houses of the country to donate to this fund and said that the money that will come in it will strengthen the ongoing war against the coronavirus. To provide any kind of relief or assistance related to a public health emergency or any other type of emergency, including construction or upgrade of healthcare or pharmaceutical facilities, other necessary infrastructure, relevant research, or any other form of support. is. The Prime Minister is the Chairman of the Trust and its members include Defense Minister, Home Minister, and Finance Minister.
The fund consists of voluntary contributions of individuals/organizations. Any person appointed as a trustee shall act in a free capacity. It receives no budgetary support. The PM Cares Fund will not be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. The PM Cars Fund will be audited by independent auditors who will be appointed by the trustees. Donation to the fund will qualify for 80% benefit under the Income Tax Act, 1961 for 100% exemption.
Donation to its charity will also be counted as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure under the Companies Act, 2013. A separate account has been opened for receiving donations from foreigners and the fund is also exempted under FCRA (Foreign Contribution and Regulation Act), 1976. The PM’s care fund can accept donations and contributions from individuals and organizations located overseas. The Prime Minister’s Fund Fund is exempted from the operation of all the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. It is similar to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. PMNRF has also received foreign contributions as a public trust since 2011.
But the opposition says the announcement of PM-CARS as a public authority is a setback for transparency and accountability. The need for fund creation has also been questioned as the PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) has already received donations for such emergencies. In some cases, donations voluntarily raised for the PMNRF have also been directed by the administration to the PM-Care Fund. Opposition parties are of the view that the new fund lacks transparency. Name, structure of trust, control, use of symbol, government domain name everything shows that it is a public authority.
�By simply deciding that it is not a public authority and rejecting the application on the RTI Act, the government has built walls of privacy around it. Since the creation of the trust, millions of public and private sector employees have donated a day’s salary for it, with some claiming that the deduction was made without their explicit consent. Many public sector units and corporate entities have also donated due to grant of provisional permission to unauthorized corporate donations which would qualify as corporate social responsibility expenditure. Earlier, a government panel had rightly suggested that the double benefit of tax exemption would be a “retrograde incentive”.
The government argues that the main objective of this fund is that in the event of any natural or human calamity in the country, people will be provided for financial and technical assistance. Challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic have never been seen before, given the absence of any authentic treatment and uncertainty of the disease, the government has arranged a ‘PM Cares Fund’ to help in immediate response to any global pandemic situation.
But at least the RTI request should be seen as legitimate. Those who want to understand how the funds are being received and how they are being distributed so far, apart from this, the government also needs to publicize more accountable donations so that their actions can be taken positively.
